A young woman you don’t know is passed out on your living room floor. She’s clearly drunk, possibly on drugs, and probably in need of medical attention. What do you do? This is an easy one, right? All it takes is one phone call.
Oh, but what if the woman is white and the floor belongs to young Black men? Suddenly the 2×2 tic-tac-toe problem has become the New York Times Saturday crossword. Do you want to make that call? Do you want to be there when uniformed people arrive? What if it’s Friday night and you already started partying, huh? There’s a very good chance you’ll spend the night in jail; there’s even a small chance you’ll spend it in a morgue.
If racism weren’t a thing, there wouldn’t even be a plot here. Unfortunately, racism continues to be a HUGE thing in these United States, regardless of what you hear on Fox News. This means that a nonexistent plot in white America becomes a Hellscape in Black America. Sure, it doesn’t have to be this way. It just is.
Sean (RJ Cyler) is the straight man; a cum laude scientist headed to Princeton for grad school. Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) is the playah; his ambition is to be the first Black person in school history to attend seven frat
parties in one night. Everybody knows a pub crawl; God help you if that’s where your mission lies.
Emergency is a film that requires one to walk in another’s shoes because otherwise, you’ll just never understand the dilemma. I’m sure dozens of misguided viewers will be offended, “Why don’t they just call for an ambulance?” Yes, I’m sure that will solve the problem … for her. But the idea here is to solve the problem for everybody involved. Were I in that situation, I think I might call for an ambulance, pack up and leave before it arrives.
The first half of Emergency plays a bit like a –excuse the phrase- Black comedy … or even a stereotypical frat film. The film builds when white people get involved and consequences happen. This is a nothing film that becomes a something film, and a strangely powerful something film at that. When the film begins, Sean and Kunle are mere cardboard caricatures of genuine college students. By the time it ends, I want to know what RJ Cyler and Donald Elise Watkins do next because these careers are far, far from over.
Frat hijinks and mentality, pack
It’s the standard alcoholic attack
Hold up, this university
Has a modicum of diversity?
Try not to go partying while Black
Rated R, 105 Minutes
Director: Carey Williams
Writer: K.D. Dávila
Genre: Tales from the frat, diversity edition
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Black collegians
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Proud Boys
