It’s never too early to get a jump on possible Oscar nominations; guest reviewer theseadogsentiment has a review of Don’t Look Up.
It is not common to feel refreshed by a movie, but leave it to Adam McKay to run the bath AND be waiting for you with a towel afterward. In my opinion, his legacy was made solid after his success with The Big Short, a movie which celebrates what little humour that can be gleaned from the chaotic days leading up to and following the 2008 US stock market crash. In addition to this, he has a way of keeping “the serious” paired in double-helix with comedy.
Don’t Look Up is the social and political critique that many people worldwide have been waiting for.
The cast is expansive, the writing is sharp and funny and the subject matter will have you tearing your hair out in reminiscent anguish. Arguably the movie makes a strong case for the fact that THE WORLD HAS ALREADY ENDED!
If you are looking for a movie that definitely entertains, and has tremendous dark humour look no further.
(Even though AT LEAST 30 minutes could have been omitted from the final cut, and the movie would have worked the same way).
Now, to address why this movie isn’t higher rated:
In short, there are major pacing issues, which I noticed around the halfway mark. It attempts to satirize/mirror the last few years of American history.
Lots of material.
The movie goes from a dark humour about futility, (both existentially and in a more societal sense), to more of a political commentary. Many viewers will find this jarring as the film’s entire message has shifted. This causes a sort of lurch when the plot is seemingly thrown away and the characters seem to resume some semblance of “normal” life. What the filmmaker is trying to tell us here is that even though destruction is assured, we as humans will still use those damning things which condemned us in the first place for comfort in our last moments.
Holding onto a poisonous rose.
This is the difficulty with a film about a long series of events in a country’s history, if you strive for accuracy, you risk overcrowding your movie (which is what happens here). But if you do the opposite it might feel sparse or trivial.
Despite this, it’s worth seeing. It still works as a killer movie.
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