Angelique Molina

(On Cable TV, January 2022) I don’t like admitting it, but when it comes time to pick and choose my BET channel movies, I will gleefully go toward low-budget romances, silly holiday comedies, or formulaic thrillers, and shy away from social issues drama. It took me an embarrassingly long time (and first seeing several bottom-of-the-barrel suspense films) before deciding to give a chance to I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking). I plead compassionate exhaustion: When a TV Guide log-line explicitly says that the film is about a homeless mom pretending to her daughter that they’re on an extended camping trip to save the kid from worrying, I can think of roughly a thousand films I’d rather see instead, and doing most of my household chores on top of those. The only thing that drew me back into the film was that it was classified as a comedy. A comedy, for one of the most excruciating personal crises I can think of. Well, after seeing the film, “comedy” is stretching it in a film that does have a single mom battling incredible odds not to be homeless… but it’s not that much of a stretch. Despite desperate circumstances compressed in barely more than a twenty-four-hour period, some deeply uncomfortable sequences and a vicious physical altercation, I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) keeps a surprisingly light tone throughout much of its running time. This is not the film shying away from its bleak subject matter: Writers-directors Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina (who also both star) find a way to make their point even in lighthearted conversations as the protagonist struggles to keep up appearances over her own desperation. The casual incomprehension and dismissal of the people she encounters comes across loudly even when the film keeps things light, and the dissonance between tone and topic definitely works in favour of the results. There are plenty of other nice little touches here and there: clearly shot in pandemic-dominated 2020, the film features characters sporting face masks without discussion. The potential for the protagonist to turn toward prostitution is handled in a very deft and nearly-deceptive fashion. A “nice guy” scene is terrifyingly irritating, despite the film clearly signposting where it’s going. Despite a micro-budget production (reportedly funded in part through pandemic relief checks), the film hits most of its targets and benefits from some pretty good actors—Kali is immensely likable as the protagonist, and she shares some credible rapport with Brooklynn Marie as her best (but frequently insensitive) best friend. The script is nicely put together and supports the no-frills execution. In other words, and this shouldn’t be a surprise by this point in the review, I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is a small gem—almost certainly one of the best BET movies currently available on the channel, and one that takes a few welcome risks to portray a situation that could have been played for mawkish melodrama by lesser talents. Give it a try—it’s much better than most of the more easily-accessible films broadcast on the network. It certainly earns its happy ending.