Best friends Sean and Kunle are about to have one of those nights that college comedies are built around: they're going to hit parties at all seven Greek houses on campus, a feat known as the Legendary, and they're going to be the first Black students in the history of their school to accomplish it. There's only one problem: who is this white girl that is passed out on the floor of their living room, and why is she there?
From that premise, "Emergency" plays like a socially conscious "Superbad," as well as a commentary on why Black characters don't get to have their own "Superbad."
Writer K.D. Dávila and director Carey Williams, who based the film on their own 2018 short, present their characters with a gauntlet of racial and societal hurdles they must face head on, when all they wanted to do was party. The film often feels bogged down in its messaging, however, its mechanics telegraphed from a script that works backwards rather than propelling its characters forward.
