Director John Patton Ford gives us a modern thriller that also works as an excoriation of the economic injustices that separate the haves from the have-nots in America.

As an arts graduate on the wrong side of inequality, Plaza is riveting as a young woman finding her foot in the Los Angeles underworld.

As neatly set-up as the world of the film is, it wouldn’t work half as well without Aubrey Plaza’s brilliantly specific lead performance, portraying Emily as an emotionally shut-down woman on the edge.

At times, I can’t tell if we’re supposed to believe that there is a darkness inside Emily that is kicked and pushed around until it’s inverted. If so, I sorta wish they devised a descent of ludicrous ends.