Don't Look Up

Don’t Look Up might be the funniest movie of 2021. It’s the most depressing too, and that odd combination makes for a one-of-a-kind experience. Writer-director Adam McKay gives you over two hours of laughs while convincing you that the world is coming to an end.

This is a stunningly accurate portrayal of our current climate. And it’s not pretty.

McKay has a point, though his frame of reference hardly stretches beyond the United States, and the stink of localized political contempt all but overpowers the plot.

McKay’s just as “right” about his target as ever. But the tone of this “Deep Impact/Wag the Dog” mashup is off. It veers towards strident, and as the clutter gathers around it, it drifts into dull. The jokes dry up and only a few members of his cast are veterans of “let make this funnier on the set” filmmaking.

Running a long 145 minutes, it’s bleakly cartoonish polemic with few laughs or dramatic peaks, despite a climactic mad-as-hell speech from DiCaprio, some ineffectual pantomiming from Streep, and some third-act forced solemnity.

This film could have done something more convincing with that mode of reverse-vertigo hinted at in its title: that fear and willed blindness about what looms over us. But if the movie helps to do something about climate change, such critical objections are unimportant.

A film with all the right things to say about how government, the media, and corporations ignore the emerging disaster of climate change, but couched within a satire so lumbering that it’s enough to turn a tree hugger into a pro-fracker.

Brilliant in pretty much every way. Great writing, great acting, a near perfect satirical presentation of society's nonchalance regarding climate change. It's so brilliant that I now judge people based on whether they like it or not. The critics scores are total nonsense if you're aware of how the media focus on what they're told to, ignoring the approaching end of days.

When a pair of low-level university astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) discover a massive comet on an impact trajectory with the Earth, they're dumbfounded by the lack of immediate government action or media interest. Nobody's anxious to address the elephant in the room because it's more immediately gratifying, and familiar, to focus on the latest celebrity breakup or political hot potato. Besides, these things always blow over in the end. Except this one doesn't, and as an extinction event draws near, the world grows increasingly frantic when their usual array of deflection tactics, age group demographics and strategic business partnerships have no effect. The metaphor is awfully tough to miss. I tend to agree that this particular moment, in the midst of an extended pandemic that's been mishandled, politicized and exploited, is probably the right one for such an overwhelmingly cynical take. There's a certain level of personal catharsis in seeing these concerned, composed scientists pushed to an on-air emotional breakdown by the obstinacy of an aloof, absurd world that refuses to process such grave news. Their frustration mirrors my own; their swift, crushing loss of faith rings familiar. Sometimes I wish I could also drop a few f-bombs on a cable news show, even if the act of doing so would make a meme of me. That said, this still feels like way too much. There's a forty-minute stretch in the middle, after the silliest lampoons have fired but before we approach the inevitable climax, where the story lags and everyone goes numb from the relentless hammering. Multiple characters endure the same desperate arc to, ultimately, prove the same point. The proverbial horse has rigor mortis by this point, but still the beatings continue. It's possible that this is just a limitation of the unusual genre pairing. The realms of goofball humor and sharp social satire don't always overlap, and in trying to pursue a grander point, director Adam McKay has stretched those boundaries. Don't Look Up does have vision, plus a unique voice that excels when focused on the enormity of the situation. It would be easy to zero in on the American perspective, or maybe even the human one, but McKay takes care to remind us that this event would affect everything on the face of the globe. His frequent cutaways - to ignorant animals, happy babies, pensive families on the other side of the planet - reinforce important points and strive to make this something more than just a concept-heavy comedy. It wants to be all that and more, but does it succeed? Not exactly. This is more like Mars Attacks! with an agenda.

The commentary in this movie gets called out for being "too on the nose" but I think it actually captures a lot of different interesting aspects of the human condition. I'm not a fan of Jennifer Lawrence's performance here, it's definitely the most confused presence in the film, but overall, the cast is fun and the humor is enjoyable.

Le premier quart d’heure est percutant, bien mené et fait le funambule sur le fil délicat de la satire et de l’ironie, tout en restant à peu près crédible… puis hélas, mille fois hélas, la suite se délite de plus en plus dans la lourdeur et le bruit des gros sabots de la caricature grotesque et maladroite…Ici et là, il reste néanmoins quelques bons passages (notamment le gourou, mélange atterrant d’un Steve Jobs et Elon Musk… bonjour les dégâts ! et Mademoiselle Lawrence qui campe avec entrain une chieuse hystérique alarmiste très typique des écolos gauchistes en sueur). Non, en fait, ce n’est pas si mauvais en effet mais (hélas) quasiment 2h20 de cette farce (grotesque) ont raison de notre patience, car par ailleurs ces clins d’oeil aux « maga » qui reviennent régulièrement s’avèrent aussi lourdingues que l’urgence climatique que le film est censé dénoncer… Ainsi, l’humour carrément débilos (vers la fin) fait perdre tous ses moyens à un film décidément dans l’ensemble superficiel et bien débile. Ce n’est pas si étonnant finalement, puisqu’on se rend compte du wokisme sous-jacent et rampant qui soutient le propos outré et outrancier de cette caricature qui fait souvent faux bond (hélas, encore). Enfin, arrêtez un peu de nous casser les pieds avec votre « bouleversement climatique »… on ne peut rien y faire et de toute façon, on s’en bat complètement les couilles de vos conneries d’agendas écolo-cons !

A good message that I agree with told in the most out of touch way possible.