"Don't Look Up" REVIEW

If humans don't act fast, all life on earth will end.

Sure, there's some "debate," but the debate is among people who aren't actually experts. Politicians are arguing, and entertainers are trying to spin it into entertainment, but the scientists? According to the scientists, the case is closed. There is a deadline on the horizon. Humans have the chance to spare themselves from certain doom, but there is no time to waste.

Can humans rally against this collective disaster? Is the certainty of doom enough to make humans put aside their differences? Or are we just going to watch the timer wind down and let oblivion take us all?

Don't Look Up chooses a strange topic for comedy. There's a comet heading towards Earth. The math is clear: it will make impact, and the comet is big enough and fast enough to kill us all. Humanity has six months to find a solution, or it is goodnight for us and the rest of our earthling friends.

Haha?

Needless to say, the jokes won't land for everyone. There are scenes in Don't Look Up that are excruciating to watch, especially in light of the pandemic. Experts go on TV shows, and TV entertainers try to make fluffy entertainment out of humanity's certain doom. Some of these jokes land close to home right now.

Don't Look Up is an ensemble cast with a huge depth of talent. The cast was enough to grab my interest. However, it primarily follows two scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) as they try to navigate through every den of vipers that have come to dominate modern society.

They are the experts. They found the comet. They know that doom is certain if humans don't do something quick.

But they don't have the power to do anything about it. Who does?

Well, there's President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son/chief-of-staff (Jonah Hill). Surely the President has the world's best interest in mind? Well, she'd like to, but she'd also like to continue to win elections, so she needs to do what's politically expedient, you understand. The midterms are right around the corner, after all!

And then there's the media, embodied by the morning show hosts played by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry. They love a fun science segment, but they need to keep it light and peppy. Maybe they can squeeze in something between revelations about Ariana Grande's dating life.

And let's not even get started about the corporate interests who look at the comet and hope that it will provide a chance for a quick buck.

With defenders like that, what chance does humanity happen?

Right about now, it's probably necessary to remind you that Don't Look Up is a comedy.

Again I say: haha?

Don't Look Up tries to make comedy out of particularly bleak material. The question at the center of the movie is pretty straightforward: has society gotten to the point where we couldn't even rally together in the face of doomsday?

I won't spoil how the movie ends here, but needless to say that as far as comedies go, it gets pretty dark. There are definite notes of Dr. Strangelove here. Long, frustrating sequences depict the protagonists trying to get the information out, and no one is listening, and considering the media landscape of the last couple of years, it all hits pretty close to home. Some audiences won't laugh. I wouldn't blame you if you found it cold and humorless.

But this is the latest movie from Adam McKay, a writer/director who got his start making silly comedies with Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Step Brothers) before switching over to more serious movies (The Big Short, Vice). There's a lot of clever writing on display here, and it's supported by incredible performances down the cast.

Even performers who are given one-note characters, like morning show host Tyler Perry, imbue their roles with enough charisma to walk the tightrope between total bleakness and flippancy about the subject matter.

Don't Look Up is deeply steeped in the political climate of the current moment. That's going to turn off some audiences. Either it will rub audiences the wrong way, or it will hit too close to home. But I don't think that makes Don't Look Up any less important as a movie.

Watching Don't Look Up can be uncomfortable. But as the movie says, sometimes it's important to be uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is the starting point for actually changing something.

Maybe it's time for our species to get really uncomfortable really quickly. Maybe that's the only chance we have.

Suffice it to say, Netflix is ending the year with one of their strongest movies yet.

"Don't Look Up" is available via Netflix.