DON’T LOOK UP (2021) *** ½

The reviews for Don’t Look Up have been all over the place.  Some love it.  Some hate it.  That kind of divisiveness is appropriate, seeing how it is about a divisive subject:  The truth.  

Scientists Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio discover that a comet will hit Earth in six months, obliterating all life on the planet.  Naturally, no one believes them.  It takes the President (Meryl Streep) to be rocked by a sex scandal before she will even set a plan into motion, if only to pivot away from the fact that she got caught sexting.  Even then, surefire plans to stop the comet from smashing into Earth are thwarted, if only because a billionaire media mogul (Mark Rylance) has found a way to make everybody money from mining the comet for precious minerals.  

The fun of Don’t Look Up is the feeling that the end of the world could very well happen just the way it plays out in the movie.  Sure, we would hope for an Armageddon, or even a Deep Impact type of scenario, but the truth is, nothing would probably get done until the tech giants and D.C. fat cats got every last dime they could out of the situation.  Also, the vital information on the comet would only be syphoned out to the public if and when the news cycle permitted.  (And if it happens on a news day when Ariana Grande announces her engagement, forget it.)  

With Don’t Look Up, writer/director Adam McKay is able to have his cake and eat it too.  He is able to deftly go from absurd (but plausible) political commentary to quiet, human moments.  Yes, many of the major players are aloof goofballs.  However, the way things are going in America, the White House’s handling of the situation is probably spot on.  At one point, Lawrence tells some youthful protestors, “They’re not even smart enough to be as evil as you give them credit for.”

The performances help sell the reality and absurdity of the situation.  DiCaprio is great as the anxiety-ridden scientist who slowly learns to play the media game.  Lawrence is fun as his outspoken partner who is never once rewarded for telling the truth.  Streep is essentially playing an amalgam of Trump and Hillary and it’s just as nightmarish as it sounds.  It’s Jonah Hill though who steals the movie as Streep’s son, who also happens to be the White House’s Press Secretary who is basically a mashup of all the Trump kids rolled up into one.  

While the film is probably a little too long and some of the plot threads and character arcs kind of get lost in the shuffle (like Timothy Chalamet’s evangelical skater punk), it works better than it probably should.  Like I said, it’s a movie about the truth.  No matter how loud you shout it, there are always idiots who don’t want to hear it.  You could substitute the comet for any sort of problem, say… I dunno… global warming or COVID-19.  You remember how everyone sat down and worked together to solve those problems?  Sure, you don’t.  That’s basically how the grown-ups in the room handle the comet in this flick.  That is to say, we’re fucked.