MOVIE REVIEW

Don’t Look Up

RELEASE DATE:  December 10, 2021 (limited)

December 24, 2021 (streaming)

RATING: R (graphic nudity, drug content, language throughout, some sexual content)

One look at the filmography of writer/producer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) reveals that the filmmaker is no stranger to satire.  With Don’t Look Up, McKay skewers everything from social media to politics, while making a statement about climate change and the dangers of misinformation making for an apathetic society.  

The story begins with Ph.D. candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) making an important discovery in the presence of her astronomy professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio).  The finding is that a humongous, jaw-dropping comet is hurling in space on its way to a direct hit with Earth. 

With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), the duo attempts – mostly unsuccessfully – to warn the world of this imminent catastrophic and fatal event, with initial talk-to-the-hand reactions coming from the President of the United States (Meryl Streep) and her Chief of Staff (Jonah Hill) to the anchors of a morning talk show, Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry).  One person taking note of all the fuss is a social media guru, Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) who leverages the event for the benefit of his own company, setting in motion an unbelievable scenario that concludes the movie.

Despite a rather impressive cast, my take on this film, which somehow received four Academy Award nominations including a Best Picture nod, is that this is a “paycheck movie,” as in the actors took the job for the paycheck.  The first few minutes of seeing DiCaprio on screen had me thinking that Matthew Perry could have done this role, perhaps even more convincingly.  Lawrence seems to go through the motions on this one, and Streep’s character (and this film) is way below her.  Only Hill seems to nail his parodied performance as the President’s minion-in-chief.  

In trying to say so much about so many of society’s ills, McKay’s unsatisfying effort is ultimately a convoluted mish-mosh that misses the mark.