AM I OK? was the first Dakota Johnson movie released after her $100 million box office bomb Madame Web, reminding viewers of what she does best. AM I OK? has received positive reviews and currently holds an 81% critics score and an 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes after premiering at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and starting streaming on Max in June 2024. This is a big change from the disastrous Rotten Tomatoes records Madame Web set. The film set a record for the worst score of the Sony Spider-Man villain movies with just a 14% critics score.
Madame Web isn’t Johnson’s worst film on Rotten Tomatoes, as 2015’s Chloe & Theo has a measly 6% critics score, but it’s her most famous flop. Despite Madame Web’s impressive cast with Johnson, Adam Scott, Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, and more, no performance could save the predictable plot and poor execution. Even then, the performances were unexpectedly weak. In Justin Brown’s review for Medium Popcorn Podcast, he noted that “Dakota Johnson seemed like she couldn’t be bothered during key scenes in the film.” Her performance was criticized as lazy, but the same cannot be said about AM I OK?
AM I OK? (2024) Official Trailer (Trailer)
Dakota Johnson’s Am I OK? Performance Amends A Big Complaint After Madame Web
Dakota Johnson’s Performance In Am I OK? Has Received Positive Reviews
As aforementioned, the biggest criticism of Dakota Johnson’s performance in Madame Web was the perceived lack of effort. Before the film even premiered, the awkward delivery of a strange line in the Madame Web trailer went viral. In her typical monotone voice, Johnson as Cassandra Webb says,
“He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.”
Madame Web Trailer (Trailer)
The awful Amazon line didn’t make Madame Web’s final cut, but plenty of moments like this led to criticism of the script and Johnson’s performance. With a much stronger script for AM I OK? by Lauren Pomerantz, Johnson had better material to work with. Johnson is anything but lazy in AM I OK?, taking the emotional and funny story about a woman who discovers she’s a lesbian in her 30s seriously. Perhaps Johnson’s commitment to delivering a great performance in AM I OK? was what allowed her to do just that.
Am I OK? Is A Reminder Of Dakota Johnson’s Best (Yet Underrated) Movie Performances
Dakota Johnson Shines In Smaller Movies
Madame Web isn’t the first time Dakota Johnson has starred in a major movie. Johnson’s breakout performance came in 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey and the sequels that followed it. Despite success at the box office, it received generally negative reviews for multiple reasons, including the acting. In 2018, she starred in Bad Times at the El Royale with Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Cynthia Erivo, and more, which underperformed. This has unfortunately led many to assume Johnson’s just a Hollywood “nepo baby” (her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) with limited talents.
The conversation around nepo babies is one of Hollywood’s biggest controversies, currently. Nepotism is sure to have an impact on the industry.
However, Johnson has shown that she shines in smaller movies that allow her to give more grounded performances. AM I OK? is the latest example, but it can also be seen in films like The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), The Lost Daughter (2021), and Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), all of which hold some of her best Rotten Tomatoes scores. Dakota Johnson’s movies span a variety of subjects and genres, but Johnson appears most at home when working with character-driven scripts. After Madame Web, AM I OK? is a breath of fresh air and a must-see in Johnson’s filmography.
