A satire is only as sharp as its subject, and writer-director Quinn Shephard has plenty to play with in "Not Okay," targeting the emptiness of social media and the facade of influencer culture.
She does so through Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), whom we're told up front in a tongue in cheek pre-credits warning is an "unlikable female protagonist." That ensures we never feel too much sympathy for Danni, even as Shephard flirts with giving her a redemption arc of sorts. How much Shephard is willing to let her off the hook becomes its own little narrative within the narrative.
Danni is a photo editor at a New York magazine (it's called Depraved) who yearns to be a writer. Her pitch to an editor to be taken more seriously includes her regret over being on vacation with her parents during 9/11 and missing out on her piece of generational trauma. So yeah, she's a vapid, clueless clout chaser, and she has no real friends or identity to fall back on.
