Don’t Look Up – Satire That Misses the Comedy
Director: Adam McKay
Writer: Adam McKay (Screenplay) David Sirota (Story)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman
Plot: Two low-level astronomers must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.
Runtime: 2 Hours 18 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Don’t Look Up starts when astronomers Dr Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence) discover a comet that will hit Earth in 6 months. The pair need to work with NASA scientist Dr Teddy Oglethorpe (Morgan) to find get the story out, after the President Orlean (Streep) and her staff dismiss the situation.
Randall, Kate and Teddy are forced to go on a PR tour to grab the attention of the world, which will see the President finally make a decision, which will offer up the bigger political picture to what is going on.
Thoughts on Don’t Look Up
Characters & Performances – Dr Randall Mindy is the man leading the team astronomers that discover the comet, he goes from nervous on front of the camera, to one of the key faces of the campaign to saving the world. Kate Dibiasky is the PHD candidate that discovers the comet and can’t stand how the people in power are treating the situation, becoming an enemy of the state. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence in the leading roles try to make the most out of the characters they are given, who are more confusing than we are need, having certain spins that look out of place. President Orlean is only interested in the numbers, she wants to remain popular with the American public and will only start taking interesting in the situation when she sees the public get interested in Randall. Every single character we meet along the way has their own agenda to keep themselves relevant within the public eye, completely shallow creation of characters.
Story – The story here follows a couple of astronomers that are drawn into a publicity tour to make the world aware of an impending comet, only to find themselves clashing with the President and popularity required in making headlines. This is a story that wants to point out that in public spotlight, only the popular stories will grab attentions of people, instead of the most important news that will affect the world. The problem with this story, is that sure, it can work really well, in small amounts, but over 2 hours of the same thing doesn’t get enough of the human touch involved in making the bigger picture relevant. Most of the story can come insufferable, with certain character decisions only becoming more complicated with where things will go in the story.
Themes – Don’t Look Up is a satirically comedy that misses on nearly every single joke, but when it comes to a potential sci-fi end of the world situation, it can become more interesting, seeing how money will dictate what people will do. Certain special effects don’t always work for the film either, looking more like a video game creation, over the film being blended into one.
Final Thoughts – Don’t Look Up is a satire that misses on so many levels, falling flat with characters design and motivation.
