Whilst it may not be as funny as it thinks it it, Don’t Look Up remains a biting Trumpian satire on fake news and society priorities as a massive meteor heads for Earth and certain destruction.
In a Michigan observatory, PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and head of department, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), warn of the meteor’s trajectory and a six month impact. Few take the situation seriously with President Orlean (Meryl Streep) preferring to defer to private enterprise and a Steve Jobs-like Mark Rylance to come up with the solution to destroy or deflect. Pop star break-ups and irreverent morning TV interviews become the norm as Dibiasky and Mindy reach hysterical heights in the face of seeming establishment disinterest and media complicity.
Writer/director Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short) pulls in a star-studded romp with serious underlying statements about the global lack of environmental care, off-kilter priorities, big business and the political establishment far removed from the everyday. Not all the humour works – and DiCaprio is surprisingly annoying – but, strangely, there’s no great surprises in Don’t Look Up. Which is more than a little worrying.
Nominated for 4 Oscars in 2022 – best film, original screenplay, editing & original score (Nicholas Britell).
Rating: 69%
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