Don’t Look Up
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill
Directed By: Adam McKay
Rated: R
A year ago, a film was announced. A film with a cast so stacked that my brain almost couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Leonardo DiCaprio was set to star. Okay, I was in. Since I was six years old and saw Titanic for the first time, I knew that I’d never let go. (Even though I’m 26 and considered elderly by Leo standards.)
Jennifer Lawrence was set to co-star. Okay, this was getting real. Jennifer Lawrence who had basically disappeared after telling us all to GET OUT OF HER HOUSE in Mother! was making her comeback?! and co-starring with Leo?
The next wave of casting announcements hit and Timothee Chalamet was announced as a supporting character. Myra from the Princess Diaries soundtrack was right. “Miracles Happen once in a while when you believe.” Timothee Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio would be sharing the screen together. Should I personally call the casting director to thank them? But wait a minute…what was the plot of the movie pairing up all of the stars that I care too much about? And now that it’s here, does it live up to my expectations?
Don’t Look Up is sure to be a divisive satire surrounding astronomer Dr. Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) and PhD student Kate Dibiasky as they discover a massive comet making its way towards the earth. The two realize they have six months to act until the comet destroys earth entirely. As they try to warn as many people as possible, the reactions are not what they hoped.
Directed by Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice), Don’t Look Up is clearly a satirical indictment about the state of today’s world. The comet is obviously symbolic for climate change. Although with everything that’s happened in the last few years, you could compare many scenes to how people have chosen to treat the COVID pandemic. If there’s one thing McKay is not, it’s subtle and the film has absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. It is loud, obvious, and messy in many ways. There are way too many plotlines explored. From Dr. Mindy’s personal life, to a big tech giant’s new innovative technology, to a presidential campaign: the film is dizzying as it jumps from one storyline to another. A few of these storylines feel a bit repetitive as they try to drive home the point of the film.
For all of its missteps, I will say Don’t Look Up is entertaining. Despite its depressing subject matter, it manages to get a lot of laughs. (From both its jokes and painfully realistic scenarios.)
DiCaprio and Lawrence are entertaining leads here. They have several memorable scenes together and as a fan of both, it was a lot of fun to see them act together. As Dr. Mindy, DiCaprio begins the film with a low-level panic about the comet but he falls into an all-out spiral in the third act. He gives a talk-show monologue that is particularly memorable. It seems like DiCaprio is practically incapable of giving of bad performance and his is probably the highlight of the film.
Lawrence is great as the highly anxious Kate who discovers the comet. She is the realist who is labeled crazy by the world. She tries to warn as many as she can about the chaos of the disaster approaching, but it falls on deaf ears. Although it was fun to watch Lawrence and Dicaprio on screen together, I can’t help but wonder what these two could do with a stronger script.
The film is absolutely filled with celebrity appearances from Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry as the news anchors who want to sugarcoat even the worst news. Meryl Streep is the incompetent President Orlean who will do anything to get re-elected. Jonah Hill is her idiotic son, Jason. Mark Rylance is a Steve Jobs type tech billionaire who is only out for money, Ariana Grande is a pop star with a hit single on the end of the world, and Timothee Chalamet is a scene-stealer as Yule, a punk skateboarder. Everywhere you look it seems another celebrity is popping up in this.
Adam McKay’s latest film Don’t Look Up serves as a satire of our current world. It’s a messy film with far too many plotlines and a major lack of subtlety, but it does have some wildly entertaining moments.
My Rating: 6/10