DON’T LOOK UP Review
The end of the world is no laughing matter. At least, for director/writer Adam McKay, the former auteur of brilliantly stupid comedy films like STEP BROTHERS and TALLADEGA NIGHTS, it isn’t. Well, maybe it is just a bit of a laughing matter, but not too much now, you hear! This is real serious stuff! There lies the unsteady act McKay, a filmmaker now focused on delivering slick political wake up calls in film form, holds over his latest work, DON’T LOOK UP; a film that loses its own humorous bent amid its self-serious crusade.
And let’s not get it twisted: climate change (or COVID or whatever serious threat to humanity lies in wait) is no joke. In fact, it’s damn near here and if one didn’t know any better it seems that the world is either too idiotic or, on a more malevolent level, too unbothered by this emerging crisis as it should be. McKay understands this unknown future that lies of ahead of us isn’t going anywhere soon and he seemingly plans on letting the public know about it the only way he knows how: by bashing the viewers head over and over and over about it. In his recent serious leaning outputs like the big wig shaming THE BIG SHORT or Bush Era dismantling VICE, McKay mitigated this constant bashing by simply surrounding its heavy-handedness with one of the most important aspects of filmmaking: making it enjoyable to watch. Sadly, DON’T LOOK UP is a tad too big and morose but thanks to its colossal cast of talented people submitting themselves to what is essentially a feature-length exercise in morose satire, the film doesn’t quite blow up on itself.
Working from a story concocted by himself and David Sirota, DON’T LOOK UP casts Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two scientists who discover a massive comet barreling towards Earth. Initially finding support in the dulcet tones of Rob Morgan’s scholar, Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, the duo soon find their warnings overwhelmed by America’s taste for tasteless political, business, and media leaders alike. With a precise cut, McKay displays a world (and more particularly, a country) that can’t get its head out of its ass before the end times arrive. Outside of DiCaprio and Lawrence’s more or less straight-faced scientists, everyone else that surrounds them is pictured as some form of self-obsessed idiot, particularly in regards to the leader of the free world, President Orlean (Meryl Streep), who, in partnership with her equally spineless and idiotic cabinet — which includes Jonah Hill as Orlean’s pompous son — see a world ending meteor and through a process of what can only be called the “rich person’s stages of depression” first views the incoming space rock as a nuisance, then a possible reelection “golden ticket”, and finally, an unmistakable sign of humanity’s death, which of course leaves them scrambling for their own safety. Also showing up are the likes of Mark Rylance’s weird tech guru (a mix of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs that ultimately feels like a riff on his character in READY PLAYER ONE) and Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett as two vapid daytime TV hosts, all of whom only serve to paint the more obvious observations of McKay’s viewing of American culture.
Contending with these and other obvious and real targets of McKay’s script, DiCaprio and Lawrence also go through their own personal troubles, with DiCaprio becoming an unwilling media darling (because come on! He is kinda cute for a scientist) and Lawrence being black sheep-ed by the entire country for her continued pleas for people to listen to the scientists that have in fact proven the existence of a world ending meteor. Hardly subtle for sure, but Adam McKay never was subtle and that isn’t always a problem, especially when the inherent topic is a serious matter. The disappointment arises in the fact that DON’T LOOK UP has hardly any sharp or incisive things to say about American society or the world’s encroaching threats that hasn’t been stated in much other interesting ways before. We know political leaders are ultimately just a bunch of snobby underqualified stooges! We know most mainstream media outlets only shuffle out blank and hollow news stories! We know that big tech can be pretty bad and dumb in the wrong hands! Adam McKay obviously knows this too but he is more than happy to remind the audience for 2.5 hours about these things.
Strangely, the film just isn’t that funny either with McKay’s script sending out groups of jokes that almost always fall flat despite the efforts of a supporting cast more or less enjoying the chance to play comedic centered caricatures with some like Ms. Blanchett bringing a little more depth to her cynical and selfish daytime host and others like Mr. Hill whiffing on multiple instances of pure riffing. On the flip side, DON’T LOOK UP finds a bit more success when it truly takes its subject seriously and the likes of DiCaprio wake up from their straight-edged performances to bring a manic and desperate bite. As the film slogs to its inevitable finale, where the likes of phrase loaded political campaigns and love affairs also arrive to clog the movie up, McKay more or less nails the harrowing effects of a world too vain and stupid to realize the dragon is at their door until its too late. In action, it does come across a little too tsk-tsk and suddenly melodramatic as every character that isn’t an idiot gets their own little monologue out of nowhere, but as mentioned, that’s the point as our own reality is starting to hew a little too close for comfort to this film and maybe a bit of sledgehammering is needed to wake all us idiots up.
But honestly, who knows if this movie will be what gets people to take crisis in the world more seriously. Who knows if people will even remember this film — one with such a loaded cast and intriguing setup — by next year! Whatever happens, DON’T LOOK UP took an obvious swing and didn’t quite strike; but in a current situation like ours, where humanity seems to be getting in its own way to make any real progress towards creating a certain future, films like this one, despite their flaws, deserve a looksie because if there was any society where a movie directed by the guy who filmed John C. Reilly's balls on a drum set could actually affect the future, it’d be this one we’re all in right now.
2.5/5
