Don’t Look Up Review
**SPOILER ALERT**
Don’t Look Up comes to us from the folks over at Netflix and is directed Adam McKay. I figured I would enjoy this on some level as McKay and his former partner, Will Ferrell, are behind some of my favorite comedies of the recent decades including (the first) Anchorman and Talledega Nights. This one lands somewhere between a comedy and social commentary on deniers of current times.
With an all star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, and chock full of cameos, McKay brought out the big guns to populate this ensemble. While monitoring exploding stars for her PhD Kate played by Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games) discovers a large comet headed towards Earth and with the assistance of Professor Mindy played by Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic) determine that it will hit us in six months. The duo take their scientific proof of the planet’s impending doom to the President of the United States played by Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada). There’s no denying Meryl is one of, if not, the greatest actors ever to work and her role as President Orlean is no different as she chews up the screen with belittling lines. The Prez does not seem to take what they’re saying with any amount of seriousness or urgency. Nor does her son and Chief of Staff played by Jonah Hill (Superbad).
It felt like Hill was basically playing himself as the President’s smart ass son and was clearly allowed to improv as the lines he delivers have his style of comedy all over them. I’m a fan of most of Hill’s prior work and with that being said after merely a few moments of screen time I wanted to inflict physical harm on his character. Not the RIP kind but the “I won’t be able to speak for a bit” kind. In fact his character became so annoying and dislikable to me I actually enjoyed the scenes less as his dialogue continued. Perhaps, that’s a testament to what Hill was trying to deliver. Cate Blanchett (Lord of the Rings) and Tyler Perry (Madea series) play a pair of news anchors who also are not at all concerned with the comets arrival. Blanchett, with her accent and large, pearly white teeth, really steals the scenes she’s in and appears to be having a great time in the role as her character lusts after DiCaprio’s.
In moments of intense frustration several of the characters have meltdowns yelling at those who are not taking the severity of the situation to heart. It, honestly, reminded me of a bit of my own personal frustrations but that’s a story for another couch. You can, however, clearly feel the frustrations of the filmmakers coming through in the script and performances from the cast. Without diving into the political realm too much the movie is clearly a social commentary on climate change or Covid-19 deniers with the POTUS telling everyone “Don’t look up” as if they ignore the problem it will just go away. I found the ridiculousness of supporters of the comet because of the jobs it would create to be something that would’ve been written 10-15 years ago as an absurdity or satirical example and yet in these times actually seems plausible people would defend. The ending of the movie actually surprised me in a good way. Due to the lack of urgency and competency of those responsible for resolving the matter the planet ultimately perishes. With a small group of humans escaping the planet on a ship and going into cryogenic hibernation waking up 20,000 years in the future. While the ending is a downer I appreciated it cause it’s not often films are ballsy enough to not have a happy ending. Audiences generally want everything wrapped up in a bow. I’m a realist. Sometimes, I like an unhappy ending to a movie. Now why do I hate joy and happily ever after? Well cause that’s life. It doesn’t always work out and neither should every story.
As I’ve said the movie is clearly a satirical social commentary on the current state of things. Every cast member involved gave solid performances including a touching scene from Timothée Chalamet and with cameo appearances from Ron Perlman, Michael Chiklis, and Chris Evans standing out. While the movie was funny and performances were good about 90 minutes in I found myself kind of annoyed with the characters and was checking my watch for the remaining runtime.
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