Okay (2002) - Insufferable characters in Danish dramedy turkey

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A sparse and very bright poster with a very long tag-line for Jesper W. Nielsen's Okay

Nete is a tough woman as a social worker in a job center, with her teenage daughter at home, and with her lax teacher/'writer' husband. But when her father turns out to be a terminal case, her world gets turned upside down.

 

Okay is written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (A Soap/En Soap (2006)) and directed by great Danish filmmaker Jesper W. Nielsen (Retfærdighedens Rytter (1989)).

Paprika Steen (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) gives it her all and is fired up on all engines, unfortunately in a character here who becomes too emotionally charged, loud, dictatorial and unsympathetic, dragon-like, - so much so that one wishes that she was the terminal case in Okay. Nete is the type of woman who is always right - about everything (in her own world.) But the other characters in the film are also often insufferable, - and not at all 'okay', - a terrible title by the way.

The filmmakers attempt to recreate the success of Susanne Bier's romcom local smash hit Den Eneste Ene (1999) with a bit more dramedy to it and again a radio-friendly soundtrack of café-aimed pop. This is entirely inappropriate in the context of the death theme in Okay, which is basically just a bit of spice to the 'almost adult' (fully-grown) 'artists'' limitless navel-picking here, both in front of and behind the camera. Okay is a lazy, self-enamored, out of touch with reality film from a lousy script without focus, laughs or seriousness.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 13.2 mil. DKK, approximately 1.84 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 2.59 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.46 times its cost)

[Okay was released 27 March (Denmark) and runs 97 minutes. 56.8 % of the budget was a grant from the Danish Film Institute. Shooting took place from March - April 2001 in Denmark, including in Copenhagen. The film was relatively successful in Denmark, where it got 235,610 admissions. At an average 73 DKK prize, this comes to around 2.38 mil. $ (88.1 % of the total gross). The only other market with information available is Germany, where the film grossed 210k $ (7.8 %). The film was released in a handful of other countries with likely small numbers. The projected final gross is 2.7 mil. $. The film won 3/9 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and was nominated for a European Film award and the Nordic Council Prize, among other honors. Nielsen returned with Manden Bag Døren (2005). Steen returned in Open Hearts/Elsker Dig For Evigt (2002); Ole Ernst (Flugten (1973)) in Debutanten (2002, short) and theatrically in Rembrandt (2002); Troels Lyby (Klassefesten (2011)) in Hvor Svært Kan Det Være? (2002, TV-series), Annas Dag (2003, short) and theatrically in Tæl til 100 (2004). 1.5k+ IMDb uses have given Okay a 6.6/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Okay?