Two African American college students and their Latino roommate find a white unconscious girl on the floor of their house. A noisy comedy about fun parties turns into an important social commentary during the emergency. The film dramatically changes tone with fear of false accusations resulting in poor judgment. The well-drawn characters embody differing perspectives on race and pop culture. Emergency also acts as a satire for “blackness” and serious consequences of binge-drinking. The second-act lull is followed by profound climax.
Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and Sean (RJ Cyler) are different best friends who want to have fun before spring break starts. Kunle, who comes from a conservative family of African doctors, is studying hard. His efforts at school get him accepted into Princeton for grad school. Smoking weed and drinking are all Sean does. He abandons his thesis for wild partying pursuits.He has two tickets for the “Legendary Tour”, seven different themed fraternity parties across campus but Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), the gentle gamer living next to him doesn’t have any ticket.Sean mocks Carlos because he carries his fanny pack containing some granola bars.
Before starting off on the tour Kunle and Sean arrive home only to find that the front door was open. They were shocked to find a half-naked white girl (Maddie Nichols) lying down in an unknown state in their sitting room.Carlos was totally immersed in his video game playing unaware of what happened.Kunle rolls her over so she doesn’t choke on her own vomit; he wants to call 911 right away.On no point should they.In other words three colored men could not be allowed by law enforcement to keep an unconscious white girl in their house unless there were drugs involved.
From her revealing attire, Sean infers that she must have come from Anything But Clothes party: this he tells his skeptical roommates before driving her back.Meanwhile, at the ABC party, a worried Maddie (Sabrina Carpenter) grabs Alice (Madison Thompson) and Rafael (Diego Abraham), an unknown male trying to hit on her. It seems as though this is for hershe hasn’t seen her sister all day.
Emergency starts with good humor. I found it hilarious when Sean teased Kunle about his geekiness. These two are opposites of one another.The jokes increase in potency as they become the only black students in a race relations class.These scenes work well as satire on college; where well-meaning liberal professors make things worse for minority students. By doing so, the film prepares you for harsher societal commentary later in the movie.
Efforts to resolve the situation peacefully get more complicated. Kunle and Carlos won’t abandon someone who cannot help themselves because she can be harmed.Sean concurs but he knows that now they will not be heroes anymore.It escalates into a fight between best friends.Kunle has had enough of Sean’s racist slights; he does not apologize for having rich parents who cared about him.Sean doesn’t have any right to decide what “blackness” means.Sean says he will probably think that Kunle is lying if law enforcement sees him because he is an A student with no blemishes on his record.A black man carrying an unconscious white girl wouldn’t receive any benefit of doubt from police.
The short film became a feature film with the title Emergency and it was directed by Carey Williams. The second act is slow moving and meandering, however, it builds up to a strong climax. The movie successfully deals with difficult matters delicately. RJ Cyler’s stardom keeps growing. His roles in The Harder They Fall and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl were also outstanding.
Watch free movies on Fmovies
