Don't Look Up

Details: Cast: Leonardo Dicaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Timothee Chalamet

MPAA Rating: R

Release Date: December 24, 2021

Review: Adam Mckay's new feature-length film Don't Look Up, was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Like, come on! How do you not get excited about a movie with Leonardo Dicaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, and Ron Perlman (just to name a few)? I've always been a fan of Adam Mckay's work. His ability to blend layered social commentary paired with comedy always has worked for me, as shown most recently by HBO's modern pride and joy Succession. Now, does this movie deliver? Kinda. To start off, no surprise the acting was top-notch. While there are numerous cameos and supporting roles from the cream of the crop actors and actresses in Hollywood, Leonardo Dicaprio and Jennifer Lawrence really run the show. Both Dicaprio and Lawrence really carry the movie on their back as they try to convince the world of imminent danger. Even the supporting cast, namely Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill, were used perfectly as the primary comedy relief characters. On a technical level, the editing of the movie is honestly really well done. A huge gripe other critics and audiences have had with the movies is the choppy, messy editing but I thought that because of how sloppy the editing felt, it ends up playing to the movie's advantage. The whole point of Don't Look Up (which I'll address in a bit) is to create a sense of urgency and impending doom. As Dicaprio and Lawrence's characters try convincing the world that there is a comet that will wipe out all life on Earth, we (the audience) witness their despair and desperation increase as their futile attempts to convince people that there is a real danger, ultimately falls on deaf ears. The choppy and sloppy editing only gets worse as the movie progresses, further illustrating the downward spiral these two characters experience. Now, actually, on the topic of the plot, the whole timing with the release and making of Don't Look Up, is supposed to be a social commentary and political satire illustrating humanity's experience with the pandemic and Covid. The comet symbolizes covid, an impending and real danger people choose to ignore or downplay due to the bubble of misinformation they live in. Meryl Streep as President Orlean was a not-so-subtle parallel to former President Donald Trump in the way that both are politicians in the highest power who respond to these threats by manipulating the media and the people via misinformation. There's even a subplot with Streep's President having controversy regarding a supreme court justice nominee, similar to that of President Trump's supreme court nominee controversy after the death of RBG. These parallels are all throughout the movie, all trying to show humanity's response to crisis during the age of social media. While I understood the message and what Mckay was trying to convey, he definitely could have done it in a better way. Besides the end of the movie, there weren't really moments of emotional gravity or any real relatable moments to connect me to any of the characters. I felt no empathy or connection or really any reason why I should care about any character in the movie. Not only that but the ending wasn't executed very well and kind of diminished the whole purpose of the movie as opposed to reinforcing the overall themes. So on one hand, I got the message that was being pushed by Mckay, on the other hand, it wasn't really executed very well.

Star Rating: 6.5/10

Final Thoughts: Although the movie's message gets muddled by a lack of empathy towards the characters and uneven tone, Don't Look Up is a star-studded movie with fantastic performances and an entertaining enough plot.