Don't Look Up Review

Films tend to have commentary about social concerns and ongoing things that have an impact on our everyday lives. Often these films deliver humor to land the punches. Adam McKay is one of those filmmakers and Don't Look Up is another shining example of what he does best.

Led by a very talented Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as the scientists who discover a planet destroying comet, Don't Look Up carries on a relentless pace of social commentary and other political satire. They say that the jokes that poke fun at the truth are the most relatable and while Don't Look Up is a satirical Look at the current state of politics the sting comes from the back it isn't that much of a stretch. Instead of a bumbling buffoon of a male president we have a female president of the same nature played by Meryl Streep and her egomaniac son is played by Jonah Hill. Streep and Hill are the comedy in this film in exaggerated roles during this end of the world adventure.

There is a lot to take in during this film. Self absorbed talk show hosts, idiotic pop stars looking for obscure causes and skater punks with better connections to the church than most. It's a very large ensemble cast who all play a role in the debate. Is this comet for real or not? For the purposes of the plot the film pulls no punches in the fact the comet exists and the debate is just idiocy being displayed. However when you turn that conversation into real world issues it's not so much fun anymore. That's what we are denying. Science. When we say things like "it will all correct itself" or "but that's still years away" we demean science and how much damage we have done to our planet. The film is asking us to rethink our stance on what is important to society.

McKay is obviously sharp with the witty banter and the cast of misfit characters. Some of the notably fun performances were Ron Perlman as an overly exaggerated gun loving pilot and Timothée Chalamet as the skater punk who truly sees Kate's truth and doesn't judge her for the emotion she displayed. Chalamet is becoming quite the reliable actor in any amount of screen time he is given. He's good in any role as well. Perlman was given very little screen time and acted as a cameo more than anything else but still his racist and misogynistic behavior in the film is dismissed as being of another generation. It's characters like this that amp up the exaggeration factor but are still based on very real statements and ideology. At points the characters who believe in science implore others to simply look up and believe what you can see with your own two eyes over what the media tells you.

This film pulls no punches. Absolutely none. As mentioned above it's overt in the delivery for a very specific reason. We need to hear these things and make corrections ourselves before it becomes too late. Maybe that comes off a bit preachy at times because it's always in our faces but that's for a reason. It even makes that self aware joke about how we turn these things into big time blockbuster movies with a surprise cameo from Chris Evans. It's a blink and you miss him situation but it's very clever.

It's a shining example of how comedy works best from a semblance of truth at the core of an idea. While the premise is not outlandish, the ideas and reactions should be. The key word here is should be. If you have time to watch a witty and poignant film with your family this Holiday Season then I would recommend Don't Look Up.