‘Not Okay’ Review: Posting Through It

In our era of branding and ubiquitous social media, where posts masquerade as life stories and mere traits become entire identities, it can feel inadequate — even impossible — to just be yourself. That’s how Danni Sanders, the ditsy antiheroine played by Zoey Deutch in “Not Okay,” becomes the most hated person on the internet. She can’t be just an upper-class 20-something living in “J train Bushwick,” so she pretends to be a survivor of a terrorist attack. As satires go, this one by the writer and director Quinn Shephard is hardly subtle — but though it lacks narrative finesse, “Not Okay” is brimming with provocative in-jokes for the extremely online.

As the film opens, YouTube drama channels explain Danni’s deception, and several real-life influencers eviscerate her. Reece Feldman (or @guywithamoviecamera, to his more than 800,000 TikTok followers) both appears in the film and is credited as its “social media consultant.” Notably, Caroline Calloway, the messy influencer who rose to online infamy for bungling a self-run workshop series, is a recurring reference. Danni watches her makeup tutorials and reads articles about her on the subway. Calloway eventually makes a cameo in the film playing herself.

“Not Okay” stabs at the adverse effects of social media on our psyches and mostly succeeds at making Danni more than just “a privileged white girl who thinks she’s the main character,” as a woman played by Shephard calls her. But the film is ultimately more content to luxuriate in the toxic sludge of internet culture than it is to try and clean it up. Giving Calloway the spotlight is a prime example. Like Danni, Calloway essentially rose to prominence for behaving erratically in public. “Not Okay” may sympathize with its protagonist’s mental health struggles, but it also leeches its clout from real, pitiable people.

Not Okay
Rated R for sex, lies and a weed vape. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Watch on Hulu.