Which would you wish for: fame or peace? I don't know if it's possible to have both and be okay but this movie has taught me some things.
Not Okay (2022) is a social media satire that touchingly focuses on a social hoax, gun violence/terrorist attacks and internet shaming.
It's about a young lady, Danni Sanders (played by Zoey Deutch) an only child of her parents, who works at an online magazine as a photo editor and lives alone in her apartment with her guinea pig pet. Her life was okay but she finds it boring and wants more out of it. She aims to be a popular writer and wants to be seen.
In a bid to make her wishes come true and also get the attention of a young man, she puts her photo editing skills to work and fakes a trip to Paris for a writer's retreat. She celebrates her wishful trip on Instagram and Twitter. Then tragedy strikes when Paris comes under terrorist attack via a bomb, killing many. It becomes an international incident.
Family and coworkers become worried about Danni. It is a great opportunity to turn the whole news in her favour as a survivor. Danni has the world's attention on her through social media trending with her survival stories. She basks in this glory until the truth comes out.
How far and deeper will she dig herself in to cover up her lies? You'll have to watch this fascinating, yet touching movie to answer this question.
Source: YouTube
Review
No doubt, movies on the delights of social media are always entertaining and Not Okay is not an exception. If you are into the teenagers' and young adults' lifestyle of Instagramming, having their phones and devices literally strapped to them 24-7, scrolling through their feeds every second and grinning at their screen, then this movie is for you.
Written and directed by Quin Shepard, I appreciate how the movie starts with the repercussion of Danni's hoax and then takes viewers months back to how it all began making it easy to follow the storyline. Each scene was well coordinated and the visual effects were smooth.
I adore Zoey Deutsch after watching her lovely performances in Beautiful Creatures (2013), Vampire Academy (2014) and Set It Up (2018). And I must say she stunningly performed the role of the spoiled but lost girl in this movie.
I love the chemistry of the cast. Danni's love interest, Colin, made me burst into a laugh when I finally recognised him as Dylan O’Brien. Maybe because he dyed his hair off-white and he was always in a cloud of marijuana smoke!
Moral Of The Movie
There are many lessons to be learned from watching this movie and an important one is to never trivialise the experience of others in an attack or tragedy. Danni missed this point when she wished she would have experienced 9/11. I mean who wishes for something like that? I'm not surprised when a lady in her support group lashes out at her thus,
"You say you have learned but at the end of the day, you are a privileged white girl who thinks she's the main character."
This movie shows how our lives are wrapped around and governed by the internet and social media. This is not a bad thing if these tools of social change are positively used. Becoming famous via a hoax like this is not a way to live but there are many like Danni. In other words, we cannot deny that there are people who profit off these tragedies but can we say it is right?
This movie is gripping, touching and enjoyable. I was on the edge of my seat, feeling embarrassed for Danni Sanders while wishing I could help her turn back the clock to a time when she did not have the world's attention but was okay. After the world trolled and shamed her, she was definitely Not Okay!
peace? I'll pick peace every time! 😄
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