‘AM I OK?’ | Sundance 2022 Review

Lucy and Jane are the best of friends. They finish each other’s sentences, predict every detail of each other’s food order, and pretty much know everything about each other. But when Jane is promoted at work and agrees to move to London for her new position, Lucy confesses her deepest, long-held secret: She likes women, she has for a long time, and she’s terrified by this later-in-life realization. Suddenly, their friendship is thrown into chaos as the two choose different routes by which to navigate the unexpected changes in their lives.

Overall I liked Am I OK?, but I think there are some areas of improvement from the conventional story we see with LGBTQ+ films. In this Lucy is not only going through a sexual awakening, but she is in a state of arrested development. Her job doesn’t give her satisfaction, and she’s tied most of her free time and life with her friend Jane. Their relationship is presented to be incredibly strong but when you look at the situation it really isn’t. Jane immediately abandons her friend and as they both go separate ways during the film, there’s not a lot for you to grapple on to to care that they get back together in the end.

The real story lies with Lucy and Brittany, an adventurous and fun-loving girl that Lucy becomes infatuated with. We don’t know for sure if Brittany is also gay, but that there is some physical chemistry between her and Lucy. Lucy tries to explore this new revelation with Brittany but it eventually falls apart leading Lucy back to Jane. It all feels less organic and more manufactured here, but because of how well acted the characters are it can pass for being cute and funny as well.

We aren’t really given more moments with Lucy learning more about the LGBTQ+ community, only a couple scenes at a gay bar but really nothing more than surface-level experimenting. I’ve seen some reviews commenting on this that are a part of the community and further adding that this feels like a film meant for straight people to enjoy rather than being a meaningful film for said community.

That said, I don’t really feel this is an offensive film in the slightest. It’s more of a depthless look into someone coming out later in life and what that means for them. The relationships are lackluster and moments forced, but I do think there is some good humor and moments that worked for me. It’s not the worst Sundance film this year… but it’s not the best either.