Movie Review ~ Not Okay

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The Facts:

Synopsis: An ambitious young woman, desperate for followers and fame, fakes a trip to Paris to up her social media presence. When a terrifying incident takes place in the real world and becomes part of her imaginary trip, her white lie becomes a moral quandary that offers her all the attention she’s wanted.
Stars: Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Mia Isaac, Embeth Davidtz, Nadia Alexander, Tia Dionne Hodge, Negin Farsad, Karan Soni, Dash Perry
Director: Quinn Shephard
Rated: R
Running Length: 100 minutes
TMMM Score: (7.5/10)
Review: When I was in school, I hadn’t officially been diagnosed FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) yet, so myself, my peers and others in our age range had to struggle mightily with the nagging sense that something was off whenever opportunity passed us by without any outlet for relief. There was no one to share our burden or feel our pain. I won’t say it was a lonely life, but there were stretches when only a good block of Must-See TV or another popular weekday line-up would cure those blues. So I get it. I get that everyone (mainly) needs to be socialized and be part of the discussion in one way or another.

That’s why I could understand what drives the protagonist in writer/director Quinn Shephard’s cringe comedy Not Okay to make terrible decisions throughout the film. What is hard to fathom, and what I find that I have to battle with constantly, is understanding why the decisions have to snowball to such an avalanche in the first place. The more we want to be noticed, the less we want to take credit or, more to the point, own up to our piece into the system we have created. It’s something Shephard admirably aims at in her film, setting it apart from your typical “I’ve got a secret!” gangly comedy.

Working for an online publication known for putting out the goopiest of puff pieces, Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch, The Disaster Artist) is stuck behind a desk editing photos. Ostracized by her co-workers for being that one annoying office employee that can’t take a hint and read social cues, Danni is a try-hard that targets prominent popularity as the highest of mountains to climb. Desperate to become a writer and contribute more to her job, she overhears a successful colleague talking about a recent Euro writers retreat and decides to impress her boss by going on one of her own. Of course, a ticket overseas is way expensive, and she hasn’t applied anywhere…but with the magic of photoshop and some PTO days, she fakes a enriching trip to Paris and fills her social media with info on her fantasy (in more ways than one) journey, convincing everyone in her life she has traveled to the City of Lights.

Then a tragedy occurs in Paris, and Danni is faced with a decision. Come clean and tell everyone it was a lie, or go all in and ride the wave of supportive messages she’s received from once ambivalent family and friends concerned for her well-being. You can imagine which route was easier to take. When she “arrives” back in the States, she’s thrust into a National spotlight but begins to feel pangs of guilt about her lie, guilt that drives her to visit an emotional support group for survivors of mass tragedies. She meets Rowan (Mia Isaac, Don’t Make Me Go), an advocate for gun safety after she was involved in a school shooting that claimed her sister’s life. Always teetering on telling the truth, Danni is inspired by this young activist and is eventually swept up in her cause. Finally, she realizes how deep she’s become immersed in her tall tale. Can she make things right without losing her new friend and damaging the credibility both of them have built together?

There are a lot of moments throughout Not Okay where you will likely find yourself wince-ing at the level to which Danni sinks to maintain her lie. Like the recent Vanessa Bayer comedy on Showtime, I Love That For You, we have a flawed protagonist who tells an unforgivable lie that will be revealed sooner or later. The longer they keep up the charade, the harder you know it will be to restore their lives when it all comes to light. Credit goes to Shephard for making that dénouement a minor point of the movie by the time we get to it. By then, the characters have progressed beyond just needing to fess up about untruths, requiring a hard reset of character to rebuild what they lost.

If you weren’t on the Deutch train before Not Okay, I’m hedging a bet you’ll be ready to buy a ticket after watching her work here. In the past, I’ve been tripped up a bit with her performances, finding them a little too preciously coy. The sadness of Danni comes out fairly quickly here, and it makes her relatable – we may not all have let this go on as long as she does, but who hasn’t thought about how easy it would be fudge the truth just to be allowed into a conversation? Deutch handles these tricky turns well, not asking us to feel sorry for Danni but not excusing her behavior.

Already having a great July with the release of Don’t Make Me Go on Amazon Prime, Isaac turns in another blisteringly good performance as a young woman rocked by a tragedy that continues putting on a brave face for others. As the veritable poster child for a movement, Rowan has to be the strong one even if she’s still vulnerable inside. Isaac handles all these emotions well and delivers an impassioned speech near the end with a hefty vigor that audiences wouldn’t find in any run-of-the-mill younger actor. It was also fun to see Deutch reunite with her co-star in The Outfit Dylan O’Brien (Bumblebee) as a Pete Davidson-esque office drone Danni has eyes for, and Embeth Davidtz (Old) exuding a cold snobbish detachment playing Danni’s mom. More shoutouts to Tia Dionne Hodge as Rowan’s mom and Nadia Alexander (Monsterland) as Danni’s co-worker trying to figure out why the girl they all couldn’t stand one week is now so popular.

I’m not sure how inspiring the film is for our current college graduates entering the workforce because it paints them as slightly vapid and social media obsessed (oh wait, they sort of are…sorry!), but Not Okay keeps pace with an evolving conversation over how much value we place on being seen. Is it enough for millions of people to notice what we do and like/comment/follow, or is it more meaningful if we can connect with one person that can make a difference to ourselves or others?    By writing a story sprung from a fantastical set-up and then tingeing it with satisfying emotional drama, Shephard seems to show us that life will surprise you no matter how you plan.

Movie Review ~ Vengeance

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A journalist and podcaster travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.
Stars: B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, J. Smith-Cameron, Lio Tipton, Dove Cameron
Director: B.J. Novak
Rated: R
Running Length: 107 minutes
TMMM Score: (5/10)
Review: The time we find ourselves living in is so “now” that it’s going to be strange to look back on it in just a few short years. It’s not just the technology that will undoubtedly be dated; the ideas, concepts, and beliefs we hitch our rides on will evolve from where they have been idling for the past 24 months. Maybe even further back than that is the generational divide that has driven interaction into one-sided conversations through podcasts available through your phone, computer, or other streaming devices. I remember when these tiny nuggets of info launched, and I could not grasp what I would receive through my earbuds. It wasn’t music, and it wasn’t an audiobook. Instead, they were informative dialogues, deep dives, and op-eds we sought out because they were points of view we were interested in.

The writer/director/star of Vengeance, B.J. Novak, is keenly aware of this medium as a delivery tool and how it has progressed from its educational origins to a lucrative business model for the profit-minded. For a while, his film finds some intriguing corners to shine a light into, uncovering characters we don’t often meet. These surprisingly agile moments give audiences a quirky look underneath expectations before the freshman filmmaker throws it all away for one of the most uncomfortable displays of narrative wrongheadedness I’ve seen in some time.

As Vengeance opens, a woman dies on a small town Texas oil field in the middle of nowhere, trying to send a text begging for help. Meanwhile, out East in NYC, Ben Manalowitz (Novak, Saving Mr. Banks) and his friend John (singer John Mayer) are spending a typical night out discussing the trickier points of dating in the modern age. Later that night, Ben is awoken by a long-distance phone call letting him know a girl he used to date occasionally has been found dead and requesting his presence at her funeral in deep state Texas. The trouble is, while the deceased’s brother seems to know Ben well, Ben can’t place the girl as someone who has left much of an impression on him.

Curious to know more and riding a wave of guilt for forgetting someone who held him in high regard, Ben is on the next flight to Texas, meeting grieving sibling Ty Shaw (Boyd Holbrook, The Cursed) after landing. Vague recollections of Ty’s sister Abilene (Lio Tipton, Warm Bodies) emerge as Ben gets to know her family over the next few days. Soon, he’s investing his time in investigating her suspicious death. At the same time, he’s pitching his strange drama in real life to a podcasting producer wiz  (Issa Rae, Little) who agrees this odd tale might make for addictive listening. Armed with his agenda while purporting to be helping the Shaw’s serve theirs, Ben explores this tiny Texas town and its colorful characters, finding the case can only be cracked by unraveling a tricky knot of deceit.

If Novak was a true amateur, one might be able to forgive how lumpy Vengeance feels throughout. What begins as a mystery eventually curves into examining blue state/red state eccentricities that opens into a study of cultural justice doled out via social media. The lightest takedowns of toxic misogyny are peppered within, equivalent to a satirical send-up that only an Ivy League grad could get away with without losing sleep. The real issue comes with the ending, and let me be clear, it’s not merely a case of, “I didn’t like it, so, therefore, it’s bad.” This finale turns a central character around in such a head-spinning way that I halfway thought it was a dream sequence. Not only does it fail the rest of the movie in the course of storytelling, but it doesn’t make sense logistically or ethically. It’s a shocking torpedo that soured my opinion of the whole film because it made me go back and analyze it with much more scrutiny.

That’s all so disappointing because were it not for the ending, I think there would be much to recommend about Vengeance. I’ve never been on the Ashton Kutcher train, failing to find the charm (or, frankly, the star quality) that has set his star aflame. Novak’s film changed my mind on Kutcher (jOBS), though, because playing the role of a maybe-no-good record producer has given the actor something meaty to work with. Novak’s flair for dialogue to chew on works well with Kutcher’s delivery, and his two brief scenes are charged with an energy that’s markedly different than what we’ve seen before. Holbrook also has a nicely wired electricity to him, and there’s honestly nothing I wouldn’t like to see J. Smith Cameron (Man on a Ledge) do at this point. As the matriarch of the mourning family, the stage actress quickly takes control of the screen.

That ending, oof. I can’t forgive it, and while I would encourage giving Vengeance a look for Kutcher’s performance and the overall strength of some of Novak’s ideas he introduces, I wouldn’t be able to recommend it in the long run. Intelligent filmmaking also has to include being a responsible authority. Novak chooses an easy out based less on good ideas and more on what might be pleasing to the audience for a moment in time. That might be somewhat the point of it all, but it’s not a clear enough message of satire for the dark humor of it all to land correctly.