Plainclothes

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Plainclothes

2025

1h 35m

Drama

Romance

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

LGBTQ+

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

79%

Tomatometer

39 Reviews

Popcornmeter

0 Ratings

A promising undercover agent assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target.

Critics Consensus

This tension-filled coming out story marks a welcome debut for director Carmen Emmi, whose Plainclothes showcases the perils of love and the effects of isolation.

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Drew Gregory

Autostraddle

While this disinterest in policing isn’t inherently a problem, it does leave the film’s most interesting thematic threads unexplored.

Feb 3, 2025

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Liz Shannon Miller

Consequence

Plainclothes has its moments, especially in its frank depiction of the awkward position of not-quite-acceptance faced by gay people in the 1990s. Yet it falls just short of greatness.

Rated: B-

Feb 1, 2025

Full Review

Christian Zilko

IndieWire

The kind of experimentation that “Plainclothes” attempts only works when the narrative fundamentals are already firmly in place, and Emmi’s film gets too far ahead of itself in that regard.

Rated: C

Jan 31, 2025

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Nicholas Bell

Fish Jelly Films (YouTube)

A distressing portrait of the detrimental and toxic effects of the closet, Tom Blyth centers a quiet, gripping character portrait.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 20, 2025

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David Gonzalez

The Cinematic Reel

Plainclothes cements itself as one of Sundance 2025’s most compelling and insightful entries—an urgent, important film for an equally important time in our society.

Rated: 3.5

Mar 5, 2025

Full Review

Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

The way the film switches various digital and film formats to go in and out of Lucas' interiority and to show that he is so deeply broken that he is his own surveillance state really worked for me.

Feb 28, 2025

Full Review

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Carmen Emmi

Director

Tom Blyth

Lucas

Russell Tovey

Andrew

Amy Forsyth

Emily

Christian Cooke

Ron

Maria Dizzia

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Synopsis

A promising undercover agent assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target.

Director: Carmen Emmi
Producer: Colby Cote, Arthur Landon, Eric Podwall, Vanessa Pantley
Screenwriter: Carmen Emmi
Production Co: Podwall Entertainment, Lorton Entertainment, Page 1 Entertainment, Mini Productions
Genre: Drama, Romance, Mystery & Thriller, Crime, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 35m