Don’t Look Up (2021)
Review of Don’t Look Up (2021), directed by Adam McKay
I write for a movie website, and the talk of the town is the ensemble cast featured in Don’t Look Up. I didn’t have the chance to see it before it dropped on Netflix, so, naturally, as soon as it was December 24, I began watching this movie with a fervor. Some sites were saying that it was one of the best comedies to come out this year, so, in a nutshell, I came in with high expectations. Never go into movies with high expectations because you’ll only get them crushed. I guess I should’ve figured that from the fact that this was Ariana Grande’s film debut, even if once upon a time she was on Broadway.
I will also admit I was a bit weary at watching this because I have a lot of environmental anxiety, but, at the end of the day, I faced my fears and watched this movie. Was it worth the hype? Let’s dive deeper into that answer in this review. I will say, though, I had great entertainment at how horrible these character’s wigs are. More on that later as well. Let’s begin the review.
A PhD candidate and her professor discover a comet that’s about to hit the earth, but no one wants to listen.
The very first shot of this movie said a lot to me. We get Jennifer Lawrence in a terrible red wig and with a nose hoop on one side of her nose and a stud on the other. This is major characterization right here and it had me cracking up. When I envision someone with this kind of look it really doesn’t sell me as discoverer of the doomsday comet, and I guess that’s why Lawrence and DiCaprio are visually set up the way they are.
I wouldn’t take DiCaprio’s character seriously either, to be honest, and when we get him calling his wife it seems like she doesn’t believe in him either. He also demeans himself by saying he hasn’t been published in awhile, which adds to this fact in the first twenty minutes alone. And maybe that’s why the wigs are so bad. So they wouldn’t be taken seriously because they don’t belong to this elitist lifestyle.
This movie is a satire. When Lawrence, the student, and DiCaprio, the professor, go to the White House to warn the president (Meryl Streep) and say that we’re all going to die, we get Jonah Hill rolling his eyes in the corner and the president being like “you can’t say it’s a 100% chance we’re all going to die” despite it being 100%. They even roast the fact that they’re from Michigan State University and not from some Ivy League. The NASA Planetary Defense guy isn’t even taken seriously. Sounds like something that could happen in real life, couldn’t it?
That’s kind of the point of this movie. It’s a cover-up for environmental degradation and the consequences of capitalism. When the professor and his student go the White House, the one guy they’re with charges them for the free snacks. The president even says “I hear you. I’m taking it very seriously” and then never actually means any of it. That’s the American government in a nutshell.
There’s even a mock New York Times that tells the professor that he needs media training because he’s so awkward. When the student is on a popular television show saying that a comic will hit the earth, she goes viral not because of the comet, but instead because of her antics while on the show. That’s a direct critique on how things go viral without actually looking at the content of what is being said. DiCaprio gets called hot and sexy astronomer and Lawrence is called crazy. Some misogyny going on right here, am I right?
Visually, the movie is pretty decent. I didn’t find it very funny overall, it relied too much on timed smaller jokes and the satire part of it. Perhaps I’m just the wrong target audience for this kind of film, but I found the interjections between, say, the random people watching the television show and reacting to it to be a clunky. I get that it was there because of the comedy, but I found that it detracted from the story and was just asking for laughs.
I think my problem with a movie like this is that when you want to take something currently happening and then make it a movie, which will then in turn be made into profit, you’re kind of sending mixed messages. It’s a washed-up satire that relies way to much on the fact that the viewer will laugh because they’re also liberal. Like I’m also liberal, but this seems like it’s trying to be woke. It’s like that kid who pokes you insistently and is like “I know a joke” and then laughs hysterically. The film wouldn’t make it without the fact that people relate to it too hard right now.
Perhaps if the story had been better or it relied on different tactics Don’t Look Up would have had a better execution. It’s got the all-star cast to try and get its act together, but misses a comprehensive thread that manages to keep it all together. At the end of the day, it hits close to home, but relies too much on that fact.
Overall Thoughts
It’s a movie that tries too hard to be something that it isn’t. There’s a reason why it’s got majorly mixed reviews, and I think you’d enjoy this kind of movie if you laugh pretty easily or aren’t triggered by the world’s impending doom. While I did enjoy the digs at how stupid Americans are (to the point in not believing in a comet that will kill all them), I didn’t think they were funny enough to warrant a laugh. All in all, thank god it’s on Netflix because I wouldn’t pay to watch this movie. Skip it unless you care to watch it.
