Hey Cinephiles, this is my first post in the Movies & TV shows community. I was checking this community out a month ago for movie recommendations as I watch a couple of movies a week and thought I should share my thoughts on some of the movies I watch. I have been procrastinating doing it for a while now for a myriad of reasons. Thus today, I will break said reasons and take my first step as a film reviewer with the film Don't Look Up as I watched it this weekend for a second time, and being fresh in my memory.
Introduction
Don't Look Up was released in December of 2021 and was written, produced, and directed by Adam Mckay. You would know Mckay from his other works such as Anchorman, The Other Guys, and the Big short.
This American apocalyptic comedy also features a star-studded cast of whos who in Hollywood with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep.
It is about two scientists who discover a comet that is hurling toward earth and them trying to warn the people of the world about this impending doom. The comet and its impact are metaphors for today's climate change issue. The film is a satirical comedy of government, apolitical, celebrity, and media indifference to this crisis.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
Plot
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy Ph.D. candidate, discovers an unknown comet. With the help of her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), they map out the comet's path, which happens to be on a collision course with earth in six months which will cause an extinction-sized event. They notify NASA and are put in touch with the Planetary Defense Coordination Office head Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), who accompanies them to the white house. The president Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son and chief of staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), show no concern. Instead, they are worried about their polling numbers and supreme court nominee.
Dr. Oglethorpe urges the two scientists to leak this information to the media when they do, and this is where we meet the morning show The Daily Rip hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry). During their segment, Dibiasky implodes due to the lack of care from the hosts, and the public makes memes of her implosion. In contrast, Dr. Mindy comes out unscathed as the sexy scientist guy. At the show's end, little public attention is given to the comet as the NASA director denies such a threat. Due to a sex scandal that involves the president and her supreme court nominee, the president decides to take action against the comet threat to distract the public from the scandal.
The mission to save the planet launches; during the launch, BASH cellular, a top donor of the president Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), asks her to abort it due to the comet having trillions of dollars worth of minerals that he would like to mine. With the white house approval, Peter Isherwell comes up with a plan to blow the comet into smaller pieces and land those in the ocean; the issue is he wants to use BASH cellular technology that has not been peer-reviewed.
Dibiasky tries to warn the people about this plan and gets sidelined by the president, while Dr. Mindy receives a promotion as the national science advisor. At this point, the world's opinion is divided as some see the comet as a planetary threat, while others call it an opportunity to create jobs through mining the fragments. Dr. Mindy becomes frustrated with the White House and goes on The Daily Rip and implodes, criticizing the president for downplaying the impending doom while questioning humanity's indifference towards the comet.
Dr. Mindy gets kicked off the administration and reunites with Dibiasky and Dr. Oglethorpe to create an awareness campaign regarding the impending comet, the slogan being 'Just Look Up". To counter this campaign, the president and the administration forge a movement named "Don't Look Up." Through all this, the comet descends near-earth, where the BASH cellulars plan to fragment the comet fails, and it causes the end of humanity.
My Opinions
Adam Mckay comes close to creating another outstanding comedy even though it is dark. Although I think he falls short of conveying the gravity of the situation, for me as the audience, I didn't feel the impending doom that the movie tries to portray for me to care about it. The saying goes, don't eat what you can't chew, which is an apt description of Mckays directing in the movie as he tries desperately to cram as much content without fleshing it out.
In my opinion, the casting director for this movie needs an award for casting so many A-list actors and actresses, which honestly played off each other very well. Dibiasky, played by Jennifer Lawrence, was the perfect imperfection, honest, idealogical, opinionated pothead with a loudmouth. I love her moments with Jason played by Jonah Hill; they really put that icing on the Dibiasky cake.
Dr. Mindy, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was somewhat of a miss for me. Even though Dicaprio plays the part well, it felt a little over the top at some points of the movie. I think the character itself didn't suit Dicaprio, where he was supposed to be somewhat of a poor mans Will Ferrel. President Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, reminded me of a certain ex-president of the United States. She played her part well and was indeed one of the most annoying and infuriating characters in this movie. Peter Isherwell, played by Mark Rylance, reminds me of a dark SteveJobs with all those sweaters he wears during the scenes.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and the message it is trying to convey. The actors did a fantastic job of portraying their characters, and I did have quite a few laughs during my run-throughs. This may be his worst movie for the director Mckay; it is a hard job to follow The Big Short. After watching the movie, I will leave you with what my sister said: "We honestly need to drown out all the noise and look at the facts."
Have you watched this movie?
If so, share with me in the comments what you think about it?
Details
Release Date - December 24, 2021 (Netflix)
Duration - 2h 18m
Director- Adam McKay
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep.
Genre - Comedy, Drama, Sci-FI
Production - Hyperobject Industries and Bluegrass Films
IMDb Rating -7.2/10