“Am I OK?” is a late “coming of age” story about friendship and self-discovery and tackles the agonies of coming to terms with yourself at a later age. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a 32-year-old woman who has an unfulfilling work and personal life, and relies on her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) who provides some structure in her life, despite her being controlling. “Am I Ok?” tackles the reality of a lot of gay people, who only come to terms with their sexuality once they are older, and it seems like they cannot do much about it because they have run out of time. Despite being 32, Lucy had never fully considered that she was in fact gay and was dejected and at peace with having mediocre relationships with men despite not fully enjoying the experience.

Lucy is in a seemingly casual relationship with Ben (Whitmer Thomas) however, this relationship is completely platonic to Lucy, who has not yet quite figured/confronted that she is not heterosexual. Unfortunately, this is harmful to both Lucy and Ben, because they are stuck in this little prison where their real feelings cannot be reciprocated. Jane and her boyfriend Danny (Jermaine Fowler) advise Lucy on the expectations surrounding her relationship with Ben which leads her to consider that she may not be into men. In the end, when Lucy comes out to Ben, they are able to hug it out and this brings them closer to each other, than the previous state of their relationship that would end in handshakes despite the façade of closeness. This shows how much the failure to be true to ourselves can actually hinder not only the romantic relationships, but even genuine platonic friendships cannot fully develop because of unnecessary expectations.

Lucy works as a receptionist at a massage parlor, where a new masseuse Brittany (Kiersey Clemons) is flirty with Lucy and Lucy soon confronts her feelings for her, as she realizes that she would like to pursue an intimate relationship with Brittany, something she had not felt with Ben. When Ben tries to kiss Lucy, she falls off the bed in a knee-jerk reaction, while trying to get away from him, and yet with Brittany, she is more than eager to give it a chance with her, and even confesses these feelings to Jane. Brittany becomes more flirtatious with Lucy, and even assures her that sexuality is a spectrum, and everyone deserves a chance to explore it for themselves. Britanny also encourages Lucy to pursue a career in art after seeing her paintings.

Jane on the other hand is thriving in her career and is offered an opportunity to relocate from LA to London for work. Her relationship with Lucy becomes shaky. Whenever two people who are close to each other have to separate or move away from each other, it seems common that they end up in conflict with each other, as nature’s way of giving them an opportunity to make peace with the fact that they won’t be together for a while, and get used to the other person’s absence. Although Jane had vowed to find Lucy a girlfriend before she left for London, the two end up fighting and not talking to each other, which allows Lucy to get out of her comfort zone and pursue things with Brittany, although it turned out to be a short-lived romance on her part, and a mere hook-up for Brittany. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, her stint with Brittany changes Lucy and shows her what she really wants, which leads to her quitting her job to pursuing art, as well as signing up on dating sites and going on several dates with women.

While the movie isn’t the most profound, and Dakota Johnson’s robot acting can be off-putting, the “slice of life” way in which it is told, with no major stakes, makes it a good watch, and the movie goes down smoothly, it is not long winded nor does it take unnecessary detours. Any story that makes it better for marginalized people to become more relatable, or that gives people something to relate to will always be something that is needed in these times.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- HBO Max