"Not Okay" is an interesting movie, surrounding the topics of online fame, Influencers, activism and Cancel Culture. Is it groundbreaking? No. Does it do a good job getting its point and message across? Absolutely.

Danni (played by a great Zoey Deutch) thirsts for internet fame and is unsatisfied with her mundane everyday life. She lives in an apart me she dislikes, her rich mother doesn't want to spend any time with her, she has no real friends and is stuck in a job as a photo editor despite wanting to be a writer. To impress her colleague and super douchey influencer Colin (a delightful Dylan O'Brien, giving it his all) she fakes a trip to Paris and gains followers online by posting edited pictures of herself in France. Her harmless lie however turns around when Paris is hit by a series of terror attacks and Danni, after a half-hearted attempt to sort things out, goes along with people believing she is a survivor of immense trauma, which gives her the fame she always wanted.

The movie starts with a warning that you're about to watch something with an unlikable female protagonist (great tongue-cheek humor here) and it really commits to it. Danni is privileged and tone deaf and desperate to be special and belong somewhere. It is never sugar-coated how selfish and ambitious she is exploiting other people's trauma. To the movies credit, it never asks the audience to feel sympathy for her and makes it clear from the first second that she is not a good person.

However, Danni does show signs of regret over the course of her journey, especially after meeting young activist and survivor Rowan (Mia Isaacs, who hopefully will be cast in everything from now on). She forms a genuine bond with Rowan and for the first time exoeriences something like empathy. But again, the movie does not want the audience to root for Danni or hope that somehow her relationship with Rowan has a chance to survive the mess she created, it's clear that it will eventually implode and the moment it does (much do to Danni's own carelessness) the film comes with a new set of online culture critcism.

While Danni is not made sympathetic or turned from villain into victim (something the movie even literally states), it does show the extremes cancel culture can lead to and that neither side is justified.

What really stands out for me however is the ending, for two different things. First, Danny's public apology hilariously mimics most influencer and celebrity apologies of recent years, with her seemingly taking responsibility for her actions only to list reasons to soften the blow and regain some sympathy points (drugs, her mental health etc.). The second one, and the more powerful move to end this on, is her not apologizing to Rowan or trying to make amends. She goes to see Rowan, with a whole speech written on her phone, until she realizes that this is what she needs to make herself feel better and not Rowan and thus the movie ends, with Danni leaving and everything being indeed "not okay."

I saw some criticism of the film that Danni didn't get a redemption arc in the end, but I disagree. No, she didn't get a full blown redemption, it isn't even certain she will become a better person due to her experience (even she admits that), but she ends the film with a moment of growth. It's tiny, but it's there and maybe that is the most realistic part here. There is no happy ending. There is no sugar-coating. There is no false sense of sympathy, only a bit of hope.

I enjoyed the film more than I actually thought I would. I really like Zoey Deutch and I'm a long term fan of Dylan O'Brien's work, so obviously I wanted to check this one out. Both of of them were fantastic as always, no question here. I am also positively surprised how this film turned out. It is less the in-your-face heavy-handed message movie it could have been and works as a satire as well as a dramedy. It is by all means okay. Even more than that.