Not Okay: The Better Evan Hansen

Hulu continues to put out bangers, and Melvin & Dan discuss Not Okay, one of its latest successes!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) Discussing They/Them, the controversial and questionable slasher set at a gay conversion camp, as well as some new Ezra Miller/Flash/Warner Brothers news. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• When Melvin first learned about Not Okay‘s description, he immediately knew he wanted to watch it. 
• Melvin felt Not Okay had some influence from Friday the 13th: Part V: A New Beginning. Yes, he explains. 
• Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien were both in The Outfit, another movie from 2022. Melvin gives a mini review for that, while asserting the quality of their chemistry. 
• Part of why Melvin texted Daniel about covering Not Okay is specifically to compare it to Dear Evan Hansen, so the two begin detailing key differences in quality and character between the two. 
• By making the film more realistic and sensible, Not Okay succeeds in making its lead character both appropriately despicable and frustratingly sympathetic, both qualities that Dear Evan Hansen never achieves in its bizarro world depiction of horrible events. 
• Daniel, “If you told me this was made as a response to [Dear Evan Hansen], I would believe you.” 
• The final sequence is the primary standout of Not Okay. 

Recommendations:

• Art for God’s Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts by Philip Graham Ryken (Book)
• Joining Letterboxd.com so you can track movies, write reviews, follow other users, and make lists!
• Let the Reader Understand: A Guide to Interpreting and Applying the Bible by Dan G. McCartney and Charles Clayton (Book)

Not Okay is Rated R for language throughout, drug use, and some sexual content. It features Zoey Deutch, Mia Isaac, Tia Dionne Hodge, Dylan O’Brien, and Nadia Alexander. Directed by Quinn Shephard. Not Okay is available on Hulu.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

Cinematic Doctrine is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other major podcast apps.