Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“I am so stupid. I should’ve figured it out by now. I am 32-years old!”
My favorite scene from this film is one where protagonist Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is lying on a bed with her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno). She is in tears, not only because Jane is moving to another country for work, but because she has finally mustered the courage to acknowledge that she might not be straight. Dakota Johnson tenderly expresses Lucy’s confusion and exasperation about her uncertain sexuality, asking Jane questions with the wide-eyed curiosity of a child trying to understand how the world functions. You cannot help but empathize with her.
Directed by Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro, the 2022 movie “Am I OK?” was written by Lauren Pomerantz. The story follows Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a receptionist at a spa, who spends her free time hanging out with her BFF Jane or Ben (Whitmer Thomas), the latter having a romantic interest in her that Lucy doesn’t reciprocate. When Jane announces she is moving to London, Lucy is devastated, so Jane decides to help her find a girlfriend before she leaves. Their first target is Lucy’s co-worker Brittany (Kiersey Clemons), a beautiful, flirtatious masseuse.
The first half of “Am I OK?” unfolds like a cozy, intimate look at Lucy’s life. She is infinitely awkward when it comes to romance and can barely figure out what she likes. However, her friendship with Jane is solid; the two share everything, like girlfriends do, and rely on each other to get through their problems. Dakota Johnson as Lucy is very likable—a 32-year-old woman who is afraid of exploring her sexuality and ridden with anxiety over it. Each time Lucy cries on screen, it’s tenderly convincing; you can relate to her plight as a late bloomer.
Sonoya Mizuno as her confident, outgoing, bossy friend Jane is sassy in the part, even though she is often too pushy with how she deals with Lucy. Both characters are flawed, and some viewers might not even like them, but they do paint an accurate representation of the different kinds of people you’d meet in your life. The screenplay subtly captures the various moods of these characters, especially Lucy’s struggle with her emotions.
Despite its crisp 1h 26m runtime, “Am I OK?” becomes a little confused in the last 40 minutes. From promising to show Lucy navigating her journey into coming out and discovering what she likes, it turns into a friendship drama over Lucy having a fallout with Jane. Their childhood bond made the film super-sweet in the first half, so seeing them fight like little kids, unprofessionally in Jane’s office, dilutes the warm, realistic tone the story exuded in the first hour.
Towards the climax, “Am I OK?” becomes entertaining again, with a hilarious cameo featuring Tig Notaro as a spiritual guru who runs a weird hammock retreat in the woods. Here, Jane takes a break and vents her negative emotions. The retreat scene is a funny mockery of fancy wellness retreats, even though, ironically, it helps Jane feel better. And even though I wanted the story to dwell more on Lucy’s journey of navigating the new waters of dating life, in the end, I liked how the focus was more on her existing platonic relationships and her desire to pursue art more seriously.
The film lives up to its tagline—”It’s never too late to figure it out”—delivering an entertaining slice-of-life drama about two different young women trying to get their lives together.
Rating: 7 on 10. You can stream “Am I OK?” on Jio Cinema.
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