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Parents' Guide to

Not Okay

By Jennifer Green, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Online celebrity satire has mature themes, language.

Movie R 2022 103 minutes
Not Okay Movie Poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • Not Okay Movie: Scene #1
  • Not Okay Movie: Scene #2
  • Not Okay Movie: Scene #3

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age 16+

Based on 1 parent review

Muhammad A.
Muhammad A. Parent of 2, 8 and 14-year-old
January 8, 2023
age 16+

Please Read

Not okay is your basic “Cancel Culture” movie. Dani is a young women who will do anything to get famous. She pretended to take a trip to Paris and that’s were it escalated. A fatal terrorist attack occurred in Paris. And instead of telling the truth Danni pretended to be a victim. She becomes internet famous when she writes an article explaining “what happened to her.” She attends a support group for mass violence survivors were she meets Rowan Aldren. Roman is a mass shooting survivor who leads an organisation similar to March For our Lives. Rowan is the only “good” role model in the movie. Dani is also in love with a guy. He capes weed and the eventually have sex at a party, so not really appropriate. Eventually a coworker of Danni tells Danni that she knows she lied. Danni then had to tell the truth. She gets fired for her job shamed on the internet and can’t go out on public without being harassed. This is not a great movie, but if you want to teach your older kid a lesson about Cancel Culture, this should do it.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.
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What's the Story?

Photo editor Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) wants to be a writer and, more than that, a famous one, in NOT OKAY. But her editor (Negin Farsad) constantly overlooks her pretty poor work. One day, Sanders has the idea to fake an invitation to a writer's retreat in Paris. It impresses her boss as well as her workplace crush, Instagram influencer Colin (Dylan O'Brien). But while she's photoshopping her beret-ed image into Parisian locations, a terrorist attack takes place in the actual French capital, leading friends and family to assume Danni was affected personally. Liking the newfound attention, Danni takes on the lie, going so far as to join a victims' support group for fodder for a story she decides to write. There, she meets Rowan (Mia Isaac), a teen victim of a school shooting who has become a well-known activist voice for gun reform and social change. The two bond, Danni's story goes viral, and suddenly the imposter finds herself too deep in and too famous to clear the record.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (4 ):

This satire on superficiality and social media fame is driven by great performances and some sharp commentary. Not Okay is broken into nine "parts," which track the main character's "arc" from nobody to famous (fake) victim to villain. Danni's total cluelessness about what it means to actually be victimized, traumatized, or even "a good person" is framed as "White privilege," but this film is more of a commentary on the zeitgeist of our times. This is also all embodied in the character of Colin, Instagram-famous for an entirely fictional, gangster-like persona ("Colin, you're from Maine," a colleague reminds him, deadpan), but seemingly devoid of any actual principles or convictions.

Despite the satirical tone and bubbly look, there's some very serious commentary about the inability to curb mass shootings, the toxicity of the online world, and how this all impacts the most vulnerable in our society. This is reflected most acutely in the character of Rowan, a fragile young woman who transforms her trauma into art. Isaac is a discovery in this role, giving forceful spoken word performances, including one that ends the film on a solemn note. Deutch is funny as the clueless perpetrator who thinks "tone deaf" is a brand, but the actress captures how she's ultimately a victim too -- someone raised in a virtual reality that prioritizes celebrity over substance, image over action, and clicks over facts.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what Danni could have done differently in Not Okay. At what point could or should she have clarified her victim status? Why did she lie?

  • Why is being famous such a draw for some people? Do you think people actually lie or make up facts about themselves to become celebrities? Why or why not?

  • Danni starts the hashtag "I am not okay." Can online activism help inspire change? What examples can you think of?

  • Rowan is the face of the trauma of gun violence for many young people in the United States in this film. What parallels to real life are there in this character?

Movie Details

  • On DVD or streaming: July 29, 2022
  • Cast: Zoey Deutch , Mia Isaac , Negin Farsad
  • Director: Quinn Shephard
  • Inclusion Information: Female directors, Female actors, Female writers
  • Studio: Hulu
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Topics: Activism , Friendship
  • Run time: 103 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: language throughout, drug use and some sexual content
  • Last updated: August 13, 2022

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