Movie Review: Am I Okay?

The movie where Dakota Johnson kisses a girl is okay. It’s not great, it’s not terrible. “Am I Okay?” is okay. It’s okay because it is yet another coming out story in the year of our Lesbian Jesus 2024. It’s okay because it’s about 30something ennui and millennial angst. It’s okay because wife team Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne do a capable job of directing their first movie together. It is all deeply and unremarkably okay. It breaks no new ground unless, again, you were waiting with bated breath for Dakota to kiss a lady on screen in which case – mazel tov to you.

Honestly, the movie would have been better if instead of discovering her latent homosexuality, Dakota’s character was rediscovering the dating scene after a long same-sex relationship. Like, maybe she stayed with her first girlfriend into her 30s, and now has to start over. Please, someone make that movie. Yes, I realize I might have some selfish motivation in this but come on you’d watch that.

My only other thoughts on this movie is the self-improvement montage at the end (MILD SPOILERS – where Dakota’s character quits her job, begins painting again and becomes an old hand at the dating apps – ) seems ridiculously sped up. Less than three weeks to turn yourself into a lesbian dating machine? Yeah, okay, sure. Good luck with that.

My Weekend (Lesbian Party Bus) Crush

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Ladies, gentlemen, thems and theys, we have a new “dance like nobody's watching”-goal to aspire to. Let us all enjoy this weekend like celesbians on a Lesbian Party Bus. Now, you may ask, what is a Lesbian Party Bus? Well, it’s a bus filled with famous lesbians, their significant others and closest friends. In short, it’s a Lesbian Party Bus. Thanks to an exhaustive and masterful display of journalisming over at Autostraddle, we know all of the LPB participants. A quick rundown includes celesbian couples Sarah Paulson & Holland Taylor, Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne, and Abby Wambach & Glennon Doyle. Also on board were Allison Janney, Carla Gallo, “The Fosters” alum Sherri Saum, “The Talk” co-host Amanda Kloots, director Lee Rose, and a coupla requisite dudes. Again, you can see how this wildly interesting pack is all connected here. But I just want to say if I every have the occasion to rent a party bus and pack it with a host of my most dear and talented friends, you’d better fucking believe we’re going to do a drunken singalong to “Closer to Fine.” This is perhaps the most relatable any celesbian has ever been. Party like you’re on the Lesbian Party Bus, kittens. Happy weekend, all.

OK, So You're Gay

Well, you don’t get more Lesbo Street Cred bonafide than being directed by two women married to each other and written by a longtime writer for Ellen DeGeneres. The new film “Am I OK?” brings Very Gay credential (directed by out stars Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne and written by Ellen alum Lauren Pomerantz) and therefore Very High expectations as it prepares for its Sundance Film Festival debut next week online (the festival is virtual because, duh, pandemic). It stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy and Sonoya Mizuno as Jane, two lifelong best friends who are on the cusp of being more than just best friends when one decides to move away to London.

Per Variety, the synopsis tells us:

When Jane announces she’s moving from L.A. to London for a job, Lucy reveals a deeply buried, long-held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy sort through old patterns and new feelings, their bond is thrown into chaos.

We all know long-buried secrets between best friends are either a) I love you and want to make out, or b) I slept with your high school boyfriend, got pregnant behind your back and now we’re stuck in the Canadian wilderness together. As the latter is pretty singularly specific (Rise, Yellowjackets Hive, rise!), I feel confident in thinking it’s the former.

Now you probably know Dakota from those horrid “50 Shades” movies, which truly were so bad. But, hey, even the daughter of two extremely famous celebrities needs to make a living. Mizuno, meanwhile, has been in a number of projects from “Ex Machina” to “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Maniac” to “Devs.” This will be Tig and Stephanie’s feature film directorial debut - both singularly and as a couple. And the story kind of follows Stephanie’s own story, coming out later in life and falling for Tig (who also has a small role in the film along with fellow queer artists Sean Hayes and Kiersey Clemons). Anyway, let them explain it together. And, you know, bring The Gay. We deserve it.