No Worries If Not!

Directed by Emma Hodgkinson

2025

Nominated across multiple categories at the Midlands Movies Awards and winning both Best Sound and Best Director, Emma Hodgkinson’s breakneck comedy, No Worries if Not!, follows Grace Scrivener (Poppy Abbott) as she struggles to balance her people-pleasing ways with a far more honest inner monologue that screams (sometimes literally) for her to set boundaries.

She wakes up on her day off with a work report to finish; a man-child of a boyfriend expecting her to find birthday cards for his mother and send nudes; friends who put pressure on her to go out; and a boss that doesn’t believe in a work/life balance (unless of course it’s the balance of her own life).

While the story itself is primarily aimed at millennial women who are expected to balance all of this, while being undermined at work, judged on their look and attitude, and expected to mother their partners; there is still plenty here to enjoy for all viewers. The disparity between Grace’s inner monologue and her actual responses to those around her make for the biggest laughs and Abbot puts her all into a role that becomes increasingly physical as the day progresses into chaos.

Hodgkinson’s script with whip-smart, paired well with a kinetic editing style that zips back and forth between locations and adds the overlaid text messages to show how all encompassing our digital connection to work, friends and family have become.

There’s also a sadness behind the whole thing. While Grace is a people-pleaser, so we wouldn’t expect her to do anything for herself during the brief runtime, it’s telling that none of the requests come from her own family, but for work, her partner’s family and her friends. She’s also rarely shown in the same room as the people she’s communicating with; an indication of how physically isolated we’ve become as we’ve become more digitally connected than ever.

A few moments in the film don’t land. This is essentially a one-woman show, brilliantly acted out by Abbott, so when the character is pushed into scenes with other characters, the film ties itself into knots to not only keep Grace’s inner monologue the focus, but to also set up the next calamity that occurs. The club sequence is probably the most egregious here, even if it does lead to a few of the funniest lines.

Minor quibbles aside, this is a frenetic, often hilarious short with a lot to say about gig culture, work/life balance and the expectations we place on ourselves for success. It’s a true calling card for the people involved.

★★★★½

4.5 / 5

Matthew Tilt

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