Am I OK? (2024)

User Review

• 

  d_riptide

  5 / 10

  To think a simple three word sentence can hold so much existential meaning and turmoil over someone’s mental health is both terrifying and equally expansive in how a person either sheds or gets comfortable in your own skin while giving themselves just enough room to make space to grow.
  
  There’s a practice to that winning formula that “Am I Ok?” both meets at and fumbles simultaneously.
  
  
  
  First of all, this is a coming-of-age tale told from the perspective of someone much older, so the emotional stakes gradually grow since a lot of life’s doors are closing and those irrepressible thoughts of doubt and regret start creeping in. The film immediately puts us into that melancholic rhythm the second it begins and so despite hitting many of the typical narrative beats we’ve come to expect from this genre, what we see here is very composed and runs along a simple trajectory to where it feels like we’re running this obstacle course along with our protagonist and a large part of that is thanks to Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s overall amalgamated flow and direction not really calling attention to itself; there’s an somber soulfulness to their craft that nearly makes up for the lack of style present.
  
  You can certainly feel how personal this story might’ve been to Lauren Pomerantz, covering certain territories about being in your 30s, and watching things change that you thought might be the same based on how one interacts and where they are in their life. No timeline is present in discovering where you fit in this world as it mostly boils down to moving at your own pace. Balance is a process, not a destination and I like how this film is sincere enough about one’s process of feeling their way through nervous events to try and ground us into that mindset.
  
  
  Yet…if I didn’t know better, I would’ve been convinced in saying this looked and played out like a pilot for a sitcom…..and a really bad one at that. It’s strictly paint-by-the-numbers and you’re definitely going to figure out how the film ends long before it gets there which is fine, but between the surprisingly short runtime and a three-act narrative structure that seemingly leaves out viable chunks of its second act, the story feels more scattershot than it lets on. And yet it carries on with hardly any momentum or energy to keep the ball rolling for a premise that’s almost required to supply as much time and focus as possible to make it relatable. Now sure, the writing tweaks its focus just enough to where events doesn’t feel too episodic but there’s also a litany of payoffs without a setup or setups without a payoff throughout the events of this movie that just don’t get resolved.
  
  The writing’s firmly on cruise control when it’s not focused strictly on Lucy and Jane’s relationship and even then, it’s not much of a drastic improvement due to how surprisingly tame and inherently more conventional the presentation is. Especially when you take into account that even though the film makes a solid case on how both friends weren’t always the best for each other, Lucy's exaggerated whining about her reluctance to move forward grows more tiresome than Jane’s inadvertent bossiness, and it's easy to see why Jane loses patience with her despite it making the ending admittedly sweeter.
  
  Not to mention, it just isn’t funny. Seriously, the script's humor is begrudgingly thin.
  
  
  
  I admit the production design’s idyllic framing and set-design weren’t all that remarkable as I’ve seen this L.A environment a lot of times already used to much better comedic and dramatic effect; plus, the musical score feels very sparse within transitions and the needle drops are more annoying if anything. Thankfully, both the cinematography and editing are compact and fluid, thanks to the runtime being very gentle with its pacing. And I didn’t expect this but I LOVE the costume design in this and how the vibrant colors help represent each character at a different position in each scene. As arbitrary as the scenes might get, you can pick apart how far each character comes.
  
  
  You can already tell Dakota Johnson feels much more at home in this type of role: she’s a lot more charming, her chemistry flows more naturally between her co-stars and despite how severely unfunny the rest of the film is, she’s the only thing that comes close to making you laugh and it also helps how seamlessly Sonya Mizuno bounces off her. Acting, in general, is mostly fine.
  
  Although, there’s a lot of artificial dialogue that most of these performers can’t salvage besides Dakota and Molly Gordon and while the characters are relatively thinly drawn to really stand out on their own, they still leave somewhat of an impression.
  
  
  
  Appropriate enough for Pride Month but for what it set out to do and what it actually achieved, I can’t help but feel a little cheated.

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