Emergency [2022]

June 3, 2022

I think you need to know a couple of things before you start watching Emergency, a buddy college comedy with a twist. Some of these things are major spoilers, so if you’re looking for that wild cinematic experience, maybe you should just go straight for the movie right now. However, I do think I would enjoy this movie much more if you knew a couple of things about it. Firstly, you should know that this is one of those social commentary comedies, specifically focused on racial issues. For the most part, the script is good and intelligent, defusing any resistance with humor. Although towards the end it starts getting a bit over-the-top.

Secondly, everything is going to be alright with everyone in Emergency. There, I said it. This will help you with all that unnecessary and ominous tension in the second part of the movie. This brings us to the main complaint I have about this movie. To put it simply, the humor was too outrageous and the drama was too serious. In this equation, I would tone down and straighten the humor although the same can be said about the drama. This blend of strong emotions and scenes that feel awkward is the reason why people don’t like this movie. To make things even worse, Emergency offers no answers and actually perpetuates the racial stereotypes.

On top of all of this, we have very stylish visuals that look like they belong in some popular music video at times. And I really liked the soundtrack featuring a couple of really great songs I haven’t heard before. I also loved our three main characters. I could identify with all three of them and I’m fucking white. Although you can probably guess that I’m more like that charming stoner/gamer Carlos. All of this means that the crew that made this movie is talented and that they have a bright future ahead of them. Just next time use a chisel instead of a hammer and you should be fine.

Sean and Kunle are two best friends with an epic night full of alcohol, drugs, and sex ahead of them. They’re just about to graduate from college so they want to do the Legendary Tour, visiting seven parties in one night. However, things are about to get complicated and very dangerous for our two young heroes and their roommate Carlos.

I’m not going to go into details as I don’t want this recommendation to turn into an obnoxiously preachy review. The story is solid although you can feel that Emergency was adapted from a short film. And they blew it up to 100 minutes instead of a pretty optimal 80. You can think of it as Superbad with different characters, hell, there’s even the ye olde roommate situation. Dope was a much sturdier and well-crafted movie exploring similar issues. Additionally, you can get a feel of what these younger generations are up to.

I feel that Emergency is also close to nineties Wayans comedy Senseless in terms of the story and social commentary. It’s a bit more lighthearted and it even has some supernatural elements but it maintains this atmosphere throughout. However, nothing can come even close to their masterpiece Don’t Be A Menace, a hilarious and extremely intelligent parody of all those nineties “growing up in a hood” movies.