Not Okay (2022)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Survivor Bilked

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Yet another dark satire on the pitfalls of social media, Quinn Shephard's Not Okay is fearless, and right on the money, while still remaining somewhat light and springy. Danni (Zoey Deutch) works at a high-stress magazine and dreams of being a writer, or at least of having a bigger social media following. To gain attention, she pretends to go to a writer's retreat in Paris, faking several photos in front of historic landmarks. Unfortunately, there's a terrorist attack, and, panicking, she continues the lie. Shockingly, she finds her social status rising and goes with the flow. She meets school shooting survivor and activist Rowan Aldren (an astonishing Mia Isaac, also in Prime Video's Don't Make Me Go) and they become friends, speaking at an anti-violence rally together. Of course the other shoe inevitably drops, and Shephard handles it with the viciousness it deserves. Usually in these types of "lie" comedies, forgiveness eventually comes, but this film understands that life, and especially life online, is not that simple.