Not Okay is actually okay

Not Okay is available to watch on Disney+ now. Source: Instagram.

By Dominique Tassell

Not Okay starring Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien just dropped on Disney+ and follows a misguided young woman who is desperate for friends and fame as she fakes a trip to Paris to update her social media presence. A terrifying incident takes place in the real world, which becomes a part of the imaginary trip and offers all she wants.

Having just watched My Fake Boyfriend on Amazon Prime, which was terrible, I had pretty low expectations for this movie.

The difference though is that this movie is a satire. It knows it’s problematic.

While it’s a fairly far-fetched premise, it’s not totally unheard of. We have had people fake trips online in recent years but for the most part, it’s always been done in order to make the point that nothing you see online is real. So do I believe that someone would do it to impress a boy? I’m not sure.

While I was apprehensive, this movie really hits its mark. While you have Deutch as the lead character Danni Sanders, by the end of the movie it’s centring on her experience but she’s not really the main character anymore. Mia Isaac’s character Rowan Aldren is.

And that’s exactly what was needed.

Mia Isaac knocked it out of the park with her performance, and I can’t wait to see what she’s in next.

That being said, Deutch’s performance is also fantastic.

The content warning at the start of the movie warns viewers of the intensely unlikable making character they’re about to endure, and she really does suck. But there’s also just a teeny bit of humanity in there, and I think that’s down to the writing but definitely Deutch’s acting.

Her character could have easily been a caricature but she’s not, and the movie’s message is far more effective that way.

An entertaining aspect of this movie for me as a pop culture fiend was thinking ‘oh this influencer/creator would be relevant to this’ and then watching them suddenly appear on my screen.

Privileged white woman who “scammed” people? Of course, I’m thinking of Caroline Calloway. And there she is on my screen.

I was pretty impressed with the knowledge that backed this movie. It’s managed to pretty effectively encapsulate influencer culture in the period it’s set.

I will say there were some aspects of the movie that were grating and not as intended, and one of them was unfortunately the entire premise.

One of my pet peeves is people lying badly, and I don’t understand why Danni didn’t just say she posted the photo from back in her room. Why did she say she was there when the bomb hit?

That’s a tad ridiculous, but I get it was needed for the plot.

I know this is a horror satire, but at one point in my notes, I just wrote “I don’t want to watch this anymore” because I was suffering so much. Suffering that the creators intended, but still.

I enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it, but I don’t know that it’s going on the re-watch list.