The feature directorial debut of real-life couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne is a moving romantic comedy about love, friendship, and living life on your own timeline. AM I OK? centers around two best friends, each navigating big changes in their lives while trying to support each other. Starring Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno, the film celebrates sisterhood and the meaning of a true friend, a highlight of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
(Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Emily Knecht)
Best friends Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) have been each other’s rock for their entire adult lives. Now in their early thirties, Lucy comes to the realization that she’s a lesbian just as her best friend is offered a promotion at work that will require her to move to London. As their lives begin to pull them apart, they routinely have to ask the question, “Am I ok?”
Full of heart and humor, the film has elements of both a romantic comedy and a buddy comedy. Lucy is navigating a new side of herself that she has been afraid to tap into, searching for a relationship that finally feels right. Jane, who has already settled into a relationship with Danny (Jermaine Fowler), is the more career-minded of the duo and makes the choice to give up the life she knows for career advancement. The main conflict, and the core of the film, is really the relationship between the two friends, although the narrative tends to stick more closely to Lucy’s search for love, with Jane’s personal story sometimes feeling like a subplot.
Kiersey Clemons is a perfect scene partner for Dakota Johnson, who plays Brittany, a flirty masseuse at the spa where Lucy works. Their onscreen chemistry is irresistible and represents a scenario that most members of the LGBTQ+ community will be familiar with: Finding yourself attracted to a member of the same sex who isn’t looking for the same kind of romantic partner.
Sonoya Mizuno and Dakota Johnson feel like they’ve known each other for years as Lucy and Jane. The dialogue and banter between them feels organic, with some magnificently acted moments between the two of them that are all at once powerful and funny. And thankfully, the film doesn’t follow the usual gay cinema trope of pairing them up as more than friends, which is very refreshing.
An indie film all the way, this isn’t the kind of romantic comedy where a meet-cute leads to the typical coupling/breakup/makeup structure. It’s also not a true buddy comedy being that Lucy and Jane spend a great deal of the film apart. What it exceeds at is being a wonderful coming out story, well-acted, written, and composed. It also has a great message about living life at your own pace and not trying to compare your own achievements to those of others. It has a lot of heart and humor that is slightly weighed down when the narrative loses focus of a lead character, but it all plays so well that it’s easy to forgive.
I give AM I OK? 4 out of 5 stars.