It's not what it looks like
Emergency is a 2022 Thriller Comedy-Drama film, directed by Carey Williams and written by K.D. Dávila, and is based on their 2018 short film of the same name.Three college students of color - the Black stoner Sean (RJ Cyler), the very intelligent Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins), who is also black, and Latino oddball Carlos (Sebastian Chacon) - must decide what to do when they find a young white girl, Emma (Maddie Nichols) passed out on the floor of their apartment mere days before they're due to graduate and on a notorious party night, a situation which becomes even more perilous when her older sister Maddie (Sabrina Carpenter) misinterprets their intentions.
The film premiered at the 38th Annual Sundance Film Festival in January of 2022. It later received a limited theatrical release in May 2022, after distribution rights were purchased by Amazon Studios. Following this, it received a wide release by Prime Video and released on May 27th, 2022.
Has nothing to do with the 1972 TV series Emergency!.
Emergency features the following tropes:
- Being Good Sucks: Sure, the trio could just move Emma's unconscious body outside or into the next house, then they'd be free of the mess...but that would involve leaving her passed out with a bunch of rowdy frat boys, which they agree is unthinkable. They opt instead to help her themselves, getting into a lot of trouble.
- Bittersweet Ending: The trio are able to save Emma's life and avoid an unjust arrest or death. However, the ending shot implies that Kunle has developed PTSD from having an officer point a gun in his face.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Carlos is out of it to such an extent that Sean is not fond of him, and Kunle doesn't seem too keen either.
- Comedic Work, Serious Scene: This is a Black Comedy throughout, but it turns deadly serious in the climax, when Kunle and Carlos finally succeed in getting Emma to a hospital. Though they're genuinely just trying to do the right thing (and could've abandoned Emma at numerous points with nobody but them knowing, as Sean points out), they're held at gunpoint by the cops. The experience leads Kunle to a Heroic BSoD.
- Elite School Means Elite Brain: Kunle has gotten into Princeton for further study and is the brain of the group.
- Extremely Short Time Span: The movie takes place over one night, starting in the evening and ending early the following morning.
- Fiendish Fraternity: Discussed. When the guys find the underage Emma passed out in their shared house, their first instinct is to do the simplest thing and move her outside so that she can get help. As they live close to several frats, they agree that they can't leave Emma unconscious there due to the risk of Date Rape.
- Intimidating White Presence: Kunle, Sean, and Carlos immediately agree that the cops and majority-white college environment will not be sympathetic to them if they seek help with Emma, the white girl passed out in their shared house. It's then played with, because their increasingly desperate flight from Emma's sister Madison looks completely different on both sides, before finally being played straight when they finally get to the hospital and get Emma help, where the police turn on them and hold them at gunpoint.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It's understandably scary for Maddie to see her younger sister getting carried away by three men. She still behaves like a total dick about it, though, bossing around the friends who are trying to help her.
- Never My Fault: Maddie lashes out at her friends for trying to help her, and refuses to take any responsibility for leaving her underaged sister at a frat party. She might've learned her lesson at the end, though they just close the door in her face.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sean's brother's friends upon learning that an unconscious white high school girl is in the house.
- Shout-Out: Carlos is shown playing Crusader Kings III in one scene.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Two of the simple solutions to help Emma (place her in a nearby frat house and call the police) are discussed and denied because they will definitely make things go From Bad to Worse (the frat houses are full of drunken, horny idiots who will most probably exploit the fact Emma is unconscious to have their way with her and the police will most probably immediately assume that Kunle, Sean and Carlos did something untoward with her and arrest them with plenty of Police Brutality. The latter one is eventually proven right, to boot).
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Twice, courtesy of Emma.
- The Whitest Black Guy: As Sean says when Kunle suggests they seek help from the police with Emma:Sean: THE COPS AREN'T GOING TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE BASICALLY WHITE ON THE INSIDE!
