Not Okay

The answer, unsurprisingly, is not what viewers expect. The film revolves around photo editor Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), who starts Photoshopping her ...

Quinn also said, "That and traffic in New York. When we were shooting the car scene, we were stuck in traffic. Zoey said, "Shooting in New York City is no easy feat. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter discussing Not Okay, actress Zoey Deutch confirmed that the film was shot in New York City and on location. New York in 100 degree weather, in cars, and also, exclusively not air-conditioned locations. When a terrorist attack happens in France during the time Danni is "visiting," the media goes into a frenzy, thinking she is one of few eyewitnesses. The new dark comedy Not Okay from Hulu begs the question: how far is too far when you're a social media influencer?

“Not Okay” is the latest Searchlight Pictures film to be released exclusively on Disney's streaming services around the world and follows Danni Sanders, ...

For a direct-to-streaming film, “Not Okay”, is an easy watch and does highlight some of the issues with social media. But it has some problems, which includes having a main character that the viewer dislikes for the majority of the film. While the film is listed as a comedy, I personally only laughed a couple of times, as it’s more of a dark comedy, where you cringe at some of the things Danni does, because you just know it’s going to come back to bite her in the butt later. While “Not Okay” is an interesting idea and has some good moments, overall, I did find it a little dull in places. As she quickly becomes an online “hero”, and the followers soon start to amount. She’s completely unaware of the issues of people surrounding her, but is also depressed since her life isn’t what she wanted it to be.

The new Hulu movie, “Not Okay” begins with a title card warning us that the film contains “flashing lights, themes of trauma and an unlikeable female ...

Not Okay is a solid takedown of our dicey relationship with social media and how online fame doesn't guarantee personal fulfillment.

Not Okay forces Danni to listen and stew in the muck of her actions. It doesn’t hit every mark it could, and with the zeitgeist’s obsession with the metaverse, it can’t help feeling a bit stale. In the end, the film doesn’t let her off the hook. Deutch plays Danni’s awkward self-involvement and desperation for external validation with a sly self-awareness that keeps the character from being insufferable. Through Danni’s eyes, we see the depths of Rowan’s trauma and the anxieties underpinning her activism. It doesn’t acknowledge how Rowan’s activism subjects her to tangible danger and how Danni’s whiteness shields her. Danni attaches herself to Rowan and siphons the words she shared in good faith to bolster her fame. Shephard’s observations of how deeply entrenched we are in the system, despite its tackiness and banality, are more compelling. The film notes that Danni’s whiteness gives her access to more opportunities, but it’s more than that. Seeking a reversal of social fortune, Danni pretends to attend a writer’s retreat in Paris on Instagram. At the same time, the city is subject to multiple terrorist attacks. The film can’t quite balance its skewering of digital culture with the painful ramifications of Danni’s lies. Not Okay is astute in mapping out the artifice permeating much of today’s influencer-driven culture.