Most coming-of-age films tend to take place during their character’s teenaged years for good reason. It’s one of the more awkward times in one's life, as you’re attempting to figure yourself out and determine what kind of person you might want to be as you grow older. Which is why the act of coming out can make you feel as though you’re going through a second set of teenage years, making a film like “Am I Ok?” feel like a coming-of-age movie for the mid-30s crowd.
The film follows Lucy, played by Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Madame Web”), a mid-30s woman living in Los Angeles working as a receptionist at a spa who mostly spends time drinking with her best friend Jane, played by Sonoya Mizuno (“House of the Dragon,” “Devs”), and Jane’s boyfriend Danny, played by Jermaine Fowler (“Superior Donuts,” “Coming 2 America”). After many failed attempts at dating men and spurred by the thoughts of flirtatious new masseuse Brittany, played by Kiersey Clemons (“Dope,” “Hearts Beat Loud”), Lucy realizes that she is a lesbian and begins to step into her new experiences, struggling with her late-bloomer revelation and new world.
Especially after years of playing more unflattering roles in films like the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, Johnson has emerged in recent times much like Kristen Stewart did in her post-”Twilight” career: she’s flourished in a realm of fresher, deeper, more emotionally complicated role. “Ok” is no different, and she somehow turns a quieter role into one of real vulnerability and honest humor. Her chemistry with Mizuno is fantastic, and their friendship really feels believable and works as the anchor for the entire film. Likewise, Mizuno is also great, and the pair of them develop a friendship that feels messy and complicated and real, unlike most other fake feeling movie friends.
The rest of the cast are all good, serving their roles well, but aren’t majorly memorable. Fowler does a great job as the doting, humorus, self-effacing boyfriend role, and Clemons plays the stereotypical “early-20s, overly flirtatious girl” role well. But neither the script from writer Lauren Pomerantz (“Strange Planet,” “Saturday Night Live”) nor their performances do much to break out of these kinds of archetypes. Likewise, even for a fairly simplistic movie, co-directors Tig Notaro (“One Mississippi,” “Star Trek: Discovery”) and Stephanie Allynne (“Dream Corp LLC,” “The L Word: Generation Q”) struggle to do more than point and shoot for much of the film’s runtime.
It’s a well-directed film in terms of getting lots of good dialogue-based scenes and moments of honest humor, but there isn’t any real sense of dramatic flair or flashiness. Not that it needs it, but eventually it stops feeling like a movie and more just like a filmed play because of this. There’s a good but not particularly memorable score from Craig Wedren (“School of Rock,” “Velvet Goldmine”) and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) as well, and it ends up feeding into the film’s main issue. It’s a fine story that's well-acted and clearly has a lot of emotion put into it. But it fails to make any real impact from a craft perspective.
Unfortunately, despite Johnson’s great performance, the queer elements of the story don’t really feel explored beyond a base level. It's fun to see her go on dates and discover herself, and plenty of great scenes come from this. A particularly excellent one sees Lucy and Jane lying in bed for a sleepover with Lucy slowly realizing her female attractions and working through it by talking to Jane. But it feels as though it stops short of really allowing Lucy to explore herself onscreen. Yes, the film is clearly moreso about their friendship, but given how much of it is central to Lucy’s coming out and self-exploration, it’s disappointing we don’t see more of it.
“Am I Ok?” is a well-acted and sweet tale that buoys itself around excellent chemistry between Johnson and Mizuno. But it never really feels like it gets deeper into any of the subjects it brings up, resulting in an emotionally charged, important, but ultimately rather surface level exploration of the middle-age coming out experience. It’s worth watching certainly, but it fails to make a major impression like one might hope given the material and those involved. 3/5
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