Don’t Look Up review: Netflix star-studded satire is hellishly unfunny

There’s dark credibility to Don’t Look Up, director Adam McKay’s gallows humor Netflix comedy about the end of the world. It shows scientists discovering that an asteroid which could kill the planet is headed for Earth. This means our chance of avoiding extinction is very slim. This urgent information is presented to the United States government. The response is very plausible.

This isn’t so much a profound insight as a reasonable conclusion drawn from current events. Recurring gun violence, civil rights crises, or the ongoing pandemic response are all proof positive for a political reality defined by inaction, where needles only move when lawmakers’ careers — or private sector profits — are at stake. Don’t Look UpThere is little beyond that, with even fewer laughs.

Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy student, discovers an unidentified comet. What starts as an exciting find for a budding astronomer quickly turns to horror as she and her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), calculate the comet’s trajectory, finding that it’s on a collision course with Earth.

Photo by Niko Tavernise/Netflix

McKay adapted a story from David Sirota (filmmaker and political strategist). Don’t Look UpThis is a 138 minute tour of what we can refer to as The Discourse. It’s the cultural-political attention economic through which major events are filter through multiple competing interests. It starts at the top: The president (Meryl Streep) waves off Kate and Dr. Mindy’s news because she’s so consumed by political scandal that she can’t even meet with them for an entire day. She’s too busy figuring out how to respond to her Supreme Court nominee’s nudes being leaked.

Kate and Dr. Mindy feel disillusioned from the government so they turn to the press. The reception isn’t any better. Traditional publications are interested only in social media engagement, and they back away under the threat of a lawsuit, while a daytime TV show is mostly interested in Randall’s meme-worthy good looks. A meteor serves as a litmus-test for the public’s personal politics.

Amazing performances Don’t Look UpThey are barely surviving. Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett are delightfully banal talk show hosts, Timothée Chalamet is a late-game breath of fresh air as a born-again skater punk, and Lawrence and DiCaprio are both actors so talented that the hope that McKay can turn things around by the end never quite extinguishes.

Photo by Niko Tavernise/Netflix

This is all. Don’t Look Up This becomes a well-acted work of exhaustion. It’s not very interesting to see this cycle play out in a hypothetical context because this particular media circus is already repeated ad nauseum. McKay’s talented cast is wasted by making them work for virtually nothing. His film doesn’t have much to offer. Why? we are trapped in these cycles, and it doesn’t seem to offer anything beyond the greatest hits of a bad few months online. This would make it easier to forgive the jokes that are made about internet memes and daytime TV. Humor is not objective, but this example shows how it can look. Don’t Look Up’s specific jokes feels like a spoiler, depriving you of one of the three times you’ll likely experience a genuine laugh.

McKay’s previous satirical comedies The Big Short ViceAlthough they could be divisive at times, their focus was on the strong. These were divisive works that focused on the cynicism in American politics and economics. They assumed the audiences for their respective subjects had been hidden. It was very easy to accept this approach when it came to politics. The Big Short It was possible to digestibly end the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and perhaps even less when it occurred in 2008. ViceI explored Dick Cheney’s career.

Don’t Look Up doesn’t have as clear of a target, so instead it swings at everyone. Worst is the moment it turns off people’s phones. They post inanity and participate in viral challenges. At no point does Don’t Look Up’s script demonstrate an interest in why these people do these things, or what causes these online phenomena. Despite this being a central aspect of his story, McKay doesn’t seem to think it worthy of consideration. There’s a word for that: contempt.

Don’t Look UpThis film is in theatrical release and will be available on Netflix starting Dec. 24.