Don’t Look Up
I feel as though Adam McKay punked us into thinking his latest was going to be Oscar bait like “The Big Short” and “Vice” by rounding up a stellar, Oscar-annointed cast, only to try and do something sillier along the lines of “The Other Guys” and “Anchorman.” Overall, I was on board with him, but even I would admit that if he’s looking to make a modern day “Dr. Strangelove,” he missed his mark considerably.
I’ve always been hit-and-miss when it comes to McKay. Part of that has been that I’m often hit-and-miss on Will Farrell, as well. Here, the Oscar-winner is aiming for Mike Judge degrees of satire, as he follows two astronomers after they find a comet hurtling to Earth. When they try to bring it to the attention of the world, scientists confirm their findings, but everyone else- from the White House to reporters to the general population- is harder to convince. Can they do anything in the next six months to actually get people to take life ending seriously?
As soon as Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) find their way to the White House to brief President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her staff, McKay’s screenplay (from a story he wrote with David Sirota) reveals itself as a broad farce about science slamming up against the wall of an administration who has no interest in it unless it helps them at the polls. You can take this as a reflection of the politics of COVID, or global warming, or anything you want, but once you see President Orlean and her son (Jonah Hill) basically taking the news of the end of the world with a grain of salt, anything you learn about this story moving forward, including how business decides to try to profit off of catastrophe, will not surprise you. “Don’t Look Up’s” biggest problem isn’t laughs- there are actually quite a few to be had- but how obviously it goes for them.
While watching “Don’t Look Up,” I think the movie works much more successfully as a send up of disaster movies like “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” instead of a political comedy. “Deep Impact” feels like the main influence in how the political aspects of the film play out, along with how the media is depicted- instead of someone who finds themselves stumbling on a major story, we get clueless talk show hosts (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) who don’t really care, and want engagement. There are other elements, like missions to try and break up the comet, but the context and results are not what we expect, especially when a visionary businessman (Mark Rylance) enters the equation.
What makes “Dr. Strangelove” so effective is that it keeps things tight with its ensemble, as well as its narrative, and we feel like everyone in the movie at least has some degree of intelligence. The problem with “Don’t Look Up,” apart from its obviousness, is that it’s populated by idiots; we question how most of the people in the movie got to any degree of success. The exceptions are Kate and Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), the person in government who gives them access to the White House. I’d include Dr. Mindy as well, but there’s a turn in the character that is meant to reflect personal conflict, but also feels out of line with how he’s set up at the beginning. This is part of why the film falls flat as satire- smart people doing dumb things is part and parcel with action movies and escapism, but if you’re going for something more farcical, they need to be consistent in their behavior throughout. Kate is, and that’s why, when she falls for a disaffected skater (Timothée Chalamet) late in the movie, we understand it given the trajectory of her character.
Your mileage with “Don’t Look Up” will depend a lot on how you view the film. As satire, it’s too on-the-nose to be effective, but given how closely it hues towards the disaster film formula, if you see it as a send up of those cliches, I think it’s easier to watch. Then, the silliness feels more plausible, and more entertaining.
