![]() (There's also an under-explored aspect to the script here about stealing other people's pain, as Danni does to Rowan.) Social media has a habit of dehumanizing people, and it’s nice to get a reminder of that fact in the Insta-Era. She learns that survivor stories come with real stakes, and that there are real people on the other end of hashtags like the one she and Rowan invent, #IAmNotOkay. ![]() It feels like Shephard isn't quite willing to go there, leaving some of the film toothless. ![]() There’s a version of this film that really leans into the horror show of people who profit, in whatever way that word means, off actual tragedy. There are a lot of claims in “Not Okay” that Danni is unlikable and won’t get a redemption arc, but the script constantly pushes back against the potential for a truly dark satire because it’s almost too empathetic to Danni’s cause. Danni decides to go with it, pretending to be a survivor, and her new social celeb status rises even higher when she aligns with an actual survivor superstar named Rowan (Isaac), who has become an outspoken activist after living through a school shooting. One morning, she drops a photo of herself at the Arc de Triomphe, and then the City of Lights is attacked by terrorists, including a bomb right at that location she posted from. She uses her photo skills to make it appear that she’s on a writer’s retreat in Paris. Instead of walking back the lie that Colin probably already forgot, she comes up with a plan. She stumbles through a conversation with her crush Colin (a pretty bland Dylan O’Brien), a co-worker who walks in a constant vape cloud, that ends with her saying she’s going to France. She's so shallow that she has "FOMO for 9/11". Even before the plot of “Not Okay” really kicks in, Danni has been set up as a social media creature who doesn’t understand the difference between tragedy and happiness-after all, both boost social followings, right? She's of an era where any definition that can be used in a social profile is a good thing.Īnd that set-up leads to the lie that will change Danni’s life. Her first scene with her boss Susan ( Negin Farsad) is one of the film’s funniest as Danni laments the totally minor problems in her life, including being on a cruise vacation during 9/11, making her unable to experience it collectively with her age group. “Not Okay” jumps back two months to re-introduce Danni as a photo editor at an online mag called Depravity-a clever name for a site I would totally read. Why has Danni Sanders become the most canceled human being in years? Later in the film when Danni suggests she’s strong enough for a Twitter bully or two, it’s funny to think back on this opening wherein the entire internet seems to hate her. ![]() It's no spoiler to say that Danni Sanders becomes one of the most hated people in the world because “Not Okay” opens in the aftermath of her having been exposed as a massive, amoral fraud. ![]()
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