Not Okay
Hulu | Release Date (Streaming): July 29, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
SlashfilmBarry LevittJul 20, 2022
Shephard's steady direction and clever script allow things to hit exactly the right note. Deutch, O'Brien, and Isaac are all terrific, and "Not Okay" is one of the most pleasant surprises of 2022. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTomris LafflyJul 25, 2022
This deceptively frothy yet incisive little film asserts that even if the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, redemption can’t be claimed in public spaces. Rather, it has to be earned in private, and sometimes, forgiveness isn’t necessarily the most virtuous next step—especially since healing takes time. For these mature observations alone, we have no choice but stan a peerless Quinn. Read full review
83
IndieWireKate ErblandJul 20, 2022
Being perpetually online sucks, but movies about it don’t have to, as Not Okay shows time and again. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellJul 20, 2022
Writer and director Quinn Shephard's Not Okay takes thing near to the knuckle, but the biting jet-black comedy never loses sight of its intentions, deftly balancing humor and bile with heart and hard-hitting themes. Read full review
77
Paste MagazineLex BriscusoJul 21, 2022
The movie is an incessant interrogation of what our young people are becoming, what they want and what the rules are to get it, yet its humor and humility make it stand out as one of the better recent satires. Read full review
75
CNNBrian LowryJul 29, 2022
Not Okay isn’t the kind of movie that’s going to amass a vast audience (hence its debut via Hulu), but it is one of those of-the-moment ideas that makes you take inventory of where we are, and the manipulation that can play into who commands the spotlight. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 28, 2022
It might be fair to argue that Shephard overreaches with Not Okay, but there’s something bracing and fresh about throwing caution to the wind the way she does. The movie doesn’t have the bland, cookie-cutter feel of so many of the other productions that comment on the evils of the Internet. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayAug 1, 2022
Not Okay hits its marks more often than not, and at its best it illustrates, step by inexorable step, how a carefully sculpted social media persona can encourage people to fake their way into a real crisis. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicKimi RobinsonJul 26, 2022
It’s refreshing to see a satire, rather than an hours-long documentary, about a grifter. But, unlike Anna Sorokin and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (her adaptation: “The Dropout,” also on Hulu), who’s been convicted of fraud, the resolution to “Not Okay” is not as absolute. Read full review
70
VoxRebecca JenningsJul 25, 2022
Not Okay is not the first film to satirize the age of influencers, but it is easily the most unsettling. Read full review
70
VarietyAmy NicholsonJul 20, 2022
Shephard jabs well-placed elbows at modern day media celebrity, where the public’s attention veers in an instant from tutting about death to applauding as Danni does goat yoga. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 27, 2022
Is the tonal marriage perfect between the over-the-top hijinks about the gross commodification of “wokeness” and melodramatic exposure of the cost those actually fighting must pay as a result? No. In many instances it seems Shephard does want us to pity Danni (Deutch’s performance almost deserves it too once she finds a conscience hiding below her vanity) despite her endgame proving the opposite. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJul 29, 2022
Ultimately, it’s an entertaining dramedy with strong performances from Deutch and the quickly-rising-star Mia Isaac (also excellent in the recent “Don’t Make Me Go”), but is too often willing to poke fun at easy targets instead of really asking why people lie for popularity or how we turn survivors of extreme violence into celebrities. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 28, 2022
Not Okay isn’t exactly a swing and a miss. But it doesn’t quite connect in solid fashion. Read full review
60
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 2, 2022
Had the movie pitched itself on a one-way trip into the black, Deutch would no doubt have been up to the task. She’s a squirmy wonder in the film, loathsome and pitiable and, perhaps, grimly relatable. At times, Shephard overstates Danni’s detachment from polite society, but otherwise she and Deutch keep things in frightfully believable bounds. Read full review
60
Screen RantMolly FreemanJul 29, 2022
There is a great deal of cringe comedy in Not Okay and the actors all pull it off well. Shephard's social media black comedy is an entertaining film that may leave audiences thinking about their own relationship to social media. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonJul 28, 2022
Not Okay is like many “internet movies” before it – approaching uncanny valley, somewhat obvious, just a little off — but this unsettling darkness makes it a solid entry into the canon of just-okay social media films. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJul 20, 2022
Shepard’s reach might exceed her grasp, but there’s no question that she takes risks and is a filmmaker of notable promise. Read full review
50
The New York TimesLena WilsonJul 28, 2022
As satires go, this one by the writer and director Quinn Shephard is hardly subtle — but though it lacks narrative finesse, Not Okay is brimming with provocative in-jokes for the extremely online. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneA.A. DowdJul 27, 2022
In the end, it’s not just that you’re watching a satire sans teeth — it’s more like you’re sitting through a version of Shattered Glass where Stephen Glass feels kind of bad about all those stories he made up. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJul 25, 2022
Not Okay doesn’t make any points that, now over a decade into the ubiquity of social media, aren’t painfully obvious. Read full review
43
TheWrapRobert AbeleJul 20, 2022
Big swings can make for big misses, and that’s the situation writer-director Quinn Shephard’s internet satire-screed “Not Okay” finds itself in, lining up all kinds of juicy targets regarding fame and shame in our social media age, but proving not so discerning about character, humor, and story when it comes to following-through. Read full review
42
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferJul 29, 2022
Shephard’s film is a half-baked thinkpiece on cancel culture in search of a plausible narrative. While hitching her ideas to a scammer story, it loses the thread in a sea of topicality. No matter the potency contained in portions of her message, “Not Okay” is muddled by her delivery through the wrong medium Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 21, 2022
Not Okay wants to be kind of a goof on the subject. Deutch seems to want to make it one. But former child actress turned writer-director Quinn Shephard doesn’t appear to be on the same page with this heavy-handed mope. Read full review
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