Written by: Quinn Shephard
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Mia Isaac, Nadia Alexander, Embeth Davidtz, Karan Soni, Dylan O’Brien
Rating: [4/5]
In a world of instant feedback and social media feeds displaying unattainable goals to keep up with, it comes as no surprise individuals feel this pressure to fake it until they make it. In most cases it happens a white lie that hurts no one, but as seen in Not Okay, a small lie can build up to something out of control in the most disconcerting ways. Grossly uncomfortable in the best of ways, this film sets course to a horrifying crossroads we all know will eventually arrive, and we can only watch as it happens.
Not entirely happy with the trajectory of her life at the moment where she strives to work as a writer but does not get the opportunity, Danni (Zoey Deutch) decides to edit photos to make it look as if she’s enjoying a trip to Paris. When a bombing in Paris coincides with her fake trip, individuals call her asking on her status. Instead of telling the truth about her not being in Paris, she tells everyone she witnessed it happen and enjoys the sympathy and attention she receives because of it.
Prescience exists as the word that comes to mind when thinking of Not Okay and what it seeks to represent as we follow Danni down this treacherous road of deception. Everything she does in the film stems back from her general insecurity of her place in life as opposed to where she should be when she compares herself to others. She spends hours scrolling through social media and constantly seeing the success of others as opposed to her own personal failures, even when others do not dare to share the negatives they go through. Danni represents the average person in our current culture that uses social media more than they should. It leaves her in a place where she needs to bring attention to herself for whatever she can, even if not rooted in reality.
As we go on this journey with her, we see the various moments where she had an opportunity to stop the madness and admit her mistake. She had multiple opportunities to walk things back, but she received one of the most dangerous things one could get these days, an onslaught of positive attention and feedback. Danni reached such an insecure place in life where she received the opportunity to get exactly what she wanted and refused to give it up. Unless this is one’s first movie, you can expect the reality of eventually the truth will come out, and we just have to withstand watching her continue to milk this for as much as she can thinking the truth will ever come to light. The further she does down this road the worse the consequences will potentially be, making this all the more difficult to watch.
Of the many things Not Okay does well, it truly succeeds in displaying the despicableness of what Danni does as she continues to trauma bond with others who have gone through truly horrid things because of the attention she received from it. She takes this sympathy from others and soaks it in like a drug because of how good it makes her feel, and the fact she continues even when hearing the stories of those who actually experienced trauma and not having a second thought makes Danni that much worse. Zoey Deutch does a spectacular job in that regard in bringing this character to life, and she goes about this story. Deutch can effortlessly evoke the fakeness of her character, and she plays everything off so well. She works with both the light and dark comedy this film has to offer, and it really plays into her strengths. Not too long ago, Deutch played a fairly questionable character in Buffaloed, and she just knows how to pull off these characters and still managing to garner even the slightest level of sympathy from audiences even if we disapprove of her actions.
Stewing in discomfort for most of its runtime, writer/director Quinn Shephard weaves together this narrative in such an entertaining manner. We can breathe in those moments of happiness Danni experiences, but we know in the back of our head that everything will eventually come crumbling down for her. With this journey, Shepherd utilizes not only the idea of trauma bonding being weaponized for sympathy but then the white women tears that in turn come out when necessary in such a satisfying manner that only continues to add on to what makes this such an enriching watch. Undoubtedly a film for our times that will leave various audience members thinking to themselves, at one point they would have fessed up to their lie before they reach the point of no return. A fun exercise and an even better film on top of that.
Films with Josh 
