What does Emma want? As is often the case in both real life and the movies, this modern millennial lady ponders this very question all the time. It’s hard to know the answer, because there’s not just one. Does she want a partner, marriage, monogamy? Does she want to keep dancing, which has long been her career and also doesn’t seem to be going anywhere? Does she want to tell her overbearing mother off, once and for all? Does she want to just live at her little sister’s comfy house?
Does she — and this is the big one — want a baby?
All those queries (and more!) are offered up early in Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer’s charming romantic comedy “All That She Wants” (yes, Ace of Base fans, this one is for you). Emma (a delightful Annie Murphy, making a strong play for bonafide Rom-Com Queen status) isn’t so much thriving as she is surviving. We first meet her during a horrifying and deeply funny commercial shoot, in which she’s made to feel very old indeed as she’s also forced to dance around with a giant maxi pad. Such demeaning gigs would force anyone into a life crisis.
Things aren’t much better elsewhere, though. Her little sister (Zosia Mamet, a wonderful foil for Murphy) is about to have a baby, proving just how together her own life is (her comfy house and winningly awkward husband complete the tableau). Her long-term boyfriend (Finn Wittrock, going full himbo) can’t commit to anything beyond a flatscreen TV. Her parents (Christine Baranski and Bill Irwin) love her but can barely hide their obvious worries that she’s bottomed out before even hitting 40. The dancing gigs are bad. The boyfriend sucks. Nothing is working. And she can’t hide the truth: she wants a baby.
Hell, Emma has always wanted a baby, as we’re soon treated to flashback footage of a plucky young Emma yapping about her sterling babysitting service and her favorite charge, young “Lukie.” But with everything else in her life in total disarray, how can that possibly work? Such is the central conflict of “All That She Wants,” which is broadly about the perennial problems around “having it all,” with a generous dash of inter-generational conflict. Written by “Schitt’s Creek” writer and producer David West Read, it’s also quite funny, often silly, and amusingly astute about the wacky ways people move through the world.
Read obviously knows how to write for Murphy, who does the frazzled rom-com queen thing with both real style and actual believability. We already know and love Emma by the time her potential Prince Charming arrives on the scene, a winsome Gen-Z grad student played by filmmaker and actor Cooper Raiff. The two meet cute at a deeply awful Toronto nightclub; Emma is trying to feel young and free, while Raiff’s character, an old soul in a twenty-something body, is taken by the somewhat older woman who is much more fun than his drunk buddies.
Generationally, they might be far apart. Deep down? Not so much, but that’s something that will take Emma in particular some time to discover. (The film unfolds over a period of years, sliding back and forth in time, but never in a way that feels confusing or gimmicky.)
Perhaps you’re wondering why we’ve yet to refer to Raiff’s character by his name. When Emma and the cute young guy meet up (and then head back home… to his dorm), she’s willing to overlook their age difference for a night of fun. But when she suddenly realizes who he actually is, well, OK, her shock is understandable. See if you catch it: Raiff’s character is named Luke. He’s about ten years younger than Emma. He’s very cute. Did you get it?
He’s Lukie. As in, pre-teen Emma’s favorite babysitting charge. Oops.
For as fraught as that might sound, “All That She Wants” is far less invested in that particular complication. Sure, it makes for some awkward sequences as Emma and Luke fumble their way through their ever-evolving relationship, and it’s a catchy thing to toss into a logline, but the real issue here is, dun dun, what Emma wants and the things standing in her way. Standing in, yes, Luke’s way.
Murphy and Raiff make for a sweet and sexy couple, and we miss them when they’re not together. And they’re not together a lot, as Emma attempts to navigate multiple issues as the film unfolds, including the pressing matters around her career, her family life, and her biological clock. Murphy is engaging enough to keep things clipping right along (and Emma is a heroine very easy to root for), but things are at their very best when Emma and Luke are giving into their big feelings. Luke, it seems, feels that way too, enough that he agrees (quite quickly!) to an eventual proposal from Emma: could he father her baby? Just, like, a donation situation! No real feeling! No actual involvement!
Of course, we know where this is going, the same place any good rom-com goes when you get such a sweet pair of crazy kids together. But Bermingham, Ryhmer, West, and Murphy’s investment in Emma’s actual growth is quite clear here, a nice change from similar rom-coms. Just because we know where she’s going doesn’t mean the journey there isn’t satisfying on its own. Shot in and around Toronto, the film feels warm and lived-in, populated by kooky characters that could be in our own families, and lit with a genuine good spirit. Even better? It announces a new rom-com queen when we really, really needed (and wanted!) one.
Grade: B
“All That She Wants” premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
