Writer/director Adam McKay has come a long way in recent years, going from silly Will Ferrell comedies to more pointed political commentary. However, it is perhaps a little ironic that McKay himself has observed his latest, Don’t Look Up, got less attention than an interview he gave chronicling his split with Ferrell, an interview that, from where I was sitting, doesn’t make McKay look all that good. Given the subject matter McKay is pointing out, it’s almost as if Don’t Look Up is some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Oh, and seeing as how some new movies dropped to streaming this weekend, I opted to do two a day for today and tomorrow instead of my usual one review if any. So, why not start with the cheerful comedy about the destruction of the planet?
Ph.D student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) is doing some work at an observatory when she discovers a new comet. After the rush of excitement, astronomer Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) does the math and there’s only one conclusion possible: Comet Dibiasky is going to hit the Earth and wipe out everything in just over six months. If Mindy and Dibiasky can get people to act immediately, the problem can be solved. If they can’t, well, that’s it for every living thing on Earth. There’s just one small problem: no one with the power to actually do anything is taking the problem as seriously as they are. American President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) is more interested in keeping her approval rating high, and media personalities like the hosts of The Morning Rip (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) just want everything to look good and not depress people. And then there’s tech billionaire Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a cross between Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, who thinks letting the comet hit might be better for the economy, something that resonates with the President.
Adam McKay has never been a particularly subtle filmmaker. Given the subject matter, that’s often appropriate, and it certainly is here. The movie is clearly aiming for an allegory about climate change, with a bit of the COVID pandemic response mixed in for good measure. While President Janie could theoretically be a member of either major party, the fact her son (played by Jonah Hill, possibly giving the best performance in the movie) is Chief of Staff, what her base looks like, and the way she hung portraits of John Tyler (the first Vice President to ascend to the highest office after the President he served under died in office), Nancy Reagan, and Richard Nixon, says a lot about what kind of Chief Executive we’re supposed to see her as. Media figures, whether in TV or print media, are more interested in how they look more than anything else, and before anything can be done, the whole comet thing has become political despite the fact it really shouldn’t be.
So, why didn’t this movie work? It has its moments, but ultimately, the movie is perhaps just trying too hard. This is the third of McKay’s “serious” satires, and the second in a row where I don’t think the movie is telling me anything I didn’t already know. The Big Short taught me a lot about how the housing market worked leading up to the 2008 crash, often told in a creative and entertaining manner like cutaways to unexpected famous faces using analogies to explain the market or fourth wall breaks. Vice had Jesse Plemmons’s narrator, a figure whose purpose in the movie was only explained in the end. Don’t Look Up just has these flashes of scenes of either nature or human achievement as if to remind the viewer what was at stake if the comet isn’t stopped.
And that more or less is the movie. A lot of A-list actors, some with just the briefest of scenes (I really liked Chris Evans’s brief cameo), are trying but not really landing. Again, it comes down to the fact there’s nothing new about this message. It isn’t a surprise to see that the wealthy and powerful care more about staying wealthy and powerful or that celebrity gossip gets more attention than serious news. Anyone with eyes can see that. Given McKay’s track record, a more novel narrative might have worked better. Instead, he went with the sledgehammer, and while that is an important thing to note when it comes to raising the climate alarm, for a movie, it is less effective. Anyone likely to care already knows, and anyone who doesn’t isn’t going to change their mind because of this movie.
Grade: C+
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