Big swings can make for big misses, and that’s the situation writer-director Quinn Shephard’s internet satire-screed “Not Okay”Finds itself in, with all the juicy targets of fame and shame in this social media age. But, it is not very discerning about character, humor and story when deciding on following-through.
This film stars Zoey deutch as an ambitious wannabe influencer who uses a cringey tactic to gain viral fame. It will hopefully be Shephard’s sophomore slump. Shephard is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker whose 2017 feature debut was a success. “Blame”The film’s coiled, clinical and near-noirish treatment of sexual jealousy in high schools promised much.
Shephard works with a larger craving-attention canvas. “Not Okay” – wanting thousands to like you, not just someone across a classroom. However, her tone is more edgy. She attempts to get in front with a content alert at the beginning (but it’s a parody one) that warns about flashing lights and trauma issues. “an unlikeable female protagonist.”
Our main character is Brooklynite Danni (Deutch). We see her teary-eyed at her computer scrolling through hate-posts about herself, with voiceover telling us that her long-held dream of being noticed has become a nightmare. Although we feel sympathy immediately, the narrative flashes back to two months ago, and we see the seeds for misadventure. Danni is perkily convincing the incredulous editor of the content-farm website where she works that her 9/11 FOMO (“not knowing anyone who died that date) is a valid basis for her essay. “Why Am I So Sad?”
A clueless, lonely misfit with a chaotic style sense and a pathetic crush on dopey, hot weed influencer Colin (Dylan O’Brien), Danni decides posting from Paris is her ticket to Insta-cachet. She can’t afford to go there, however, so she sticks to Bushwick and, since she’s a photo editor, deftly fakes the backdrops. When a terrorist attack in the City of Lights triggers a panic response from her new followers the attention becomes too strong and she doubles her online fraud by pretending to be a brave victim and stylish self care icon. Soon, her celebrity rises and workmates follow her lead (except for “Blame”Colin and Nadia Alexander, alumnus, are suspicious colleagues Harper). “Are you OK?” into a pickup line.
Under cinematographer Robby Baumgartner’s colorful urban palette, this is all played for broadly snarky laughs until, when attending a survivors’ therapy session (for – ick – research for her facade), Danni befriends Rowen (Mia Isaac, “Don’t Make Me Go”She was a victim of a school shooting, and became a passionate advocate for gun reform. As a way to legitimize her brand, Danni sees Rowen as an opportunity for deep soul-searching.
Yet while it’s easy to believe a shallow opportunist like Danni would glom on to someone whose fame has integrity, under the smallest scrutiny from the other’s perspective – that of a serious-minded POC teen with genuine trauma living in a different movie from this glaringly artificial white chick – Danni’s and Rowen’s fast, consequential, unlikely bond feels preposterous, even if it’s the screenplay mechanism Shephard admittedly needs to land her biggest points about privilege, co-opted activism, and emotional theft.
At its heart, the problem isn’t that “unlikeable” tag Shephard is clearly proud of: Danni is just impossible and unfunny, an empty clown who’s more vessel for the filmmaker’s critique than a complicated character tampering with the dark side. It especially doesn’t help Deutch, whose all-over-the-place portrayal is too cartoonish to sell the first half’s meager laughs and not keen enough for the late-stage vulnerability that needs to match Isaac’s authentically simmering turn. Even a couple scenes with Embeth Davidtz and Brennan Brown as Danni’s coddling parents add little to our understanding of her, beyond signaling an advantaged upbringing.
The benefit of the doubt, considering Shephard’s canny acknowledgement at the end of problematic white narratives, is that Danni’s skin-deep soul is the point – a hoped-for swan song, perhaps, for a certain kind of culturally dominant perspective. Maybe that’s being generous when you want “Not Okay”Reach the tops of “Eighth Grade”Oder “I May Destroy You”Instead of being an offputting misfire. Shephard is still a percolating talent to watch, even if her slickly executed, attitude-thick second feature ultimately doesn’t illuminate social-media psychology about victims and villains beyond what you already knew.
“Not Okay”Friday premieres on Hulu