Adam McKay’s transition from raunchy Will Ferrell-starring comedies of the mid 2000’s to political, hot-button issue skewering satire continues with Don’t Look Up, a star studded affair that deals with humanity’s inability to fully engage with scientific fact in the face of a deadly crisis. It isn’t a particularly subtle look at the current climate issue, beating you over the head with messaging at every chance without offering much by the way of actual solutions, but McKay does succeed in creating an uncomfortably accurate depiction of inaction within our society. While that may sound like a depressing watch, the performances keep you locked in and the comedy, while not as consistent as you would think, flows fast enough that there is almost always a laugh to be had, even if the situation itself is anything but funny.
After making a startling discovery that a comet is heading towards Earth, the impact of which will cause the extinction of life as we know it, Professor Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), graduate student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) set out on a desperate mission to make those in charge aware of the impending doom. Their quest quickly becomes a comedy of errors as, after being laughed out of the White House by Trump-adjacent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son/chief-of-staff Jason (Jonah Hill), Mindy and Kate attempt to appeal to the American public through the entertainment industry. When Mindy starts to let his newfound fame go to his head, abandoning Kate in the process, he is left to to pick up the pieces of his shattered life as the government launch a desperate mission to put a stop the comet, as long as it means they profit.
In a world where Hollywood pandering has become, in some instances, worse than ever (did we all collectively forget last year’s godawful viral “Imagine” cover?) Don’t Look Up’s message rings a little hollow. While there’s no doubt that McKay means well and obviously cares very much about the issue he is espousing, it’s hard to shake the knowledge that this is a 75 million dollar film. Couldn’t that money have been better spent actually contributing towards climate research and tangible results rather than hoping a 2 hour film would convince people to switch from plastic to reusable water bottles? McKay employs a haphazard editing style at times – splicing in images of people huddled together or nature in its element – to further highlight how widespread the issue really is, but apart from being mildly nauseating with its speed, it never hits the way it is intended; bludgeoning us with the message instead of building it naturally around the characters.
Whatever your political leanings about climate change it’s hard to argue with how accurately McKay has managed to portray society’s collective tendency to reject harsh truths, seeking out the comfort of falsified media and happy, throwaway news items to distract us from reality. Tantamount to this are DiCaprio and Lawrence’s characters and the pair do an excellent job conveying the exasperation of their science being completely swept aside despite the very real and pertinent warning it carries. Kate is far less diplomatic in her approach to delivering this message, favouring a blunt approach and making for some hilariously awkward moments when placed in front of a camera and forced to play nice on morning television. Mindy is the opposite, a quiet man prone to extreme panic attacks which DiCaprio hams up to great effect, a nervous wreck of shivering anxiety and nervous ticks that explodes into some harsh, often gut-bustlingly funny rants.
The finest performances, however, come from two supporting players. Jonah Hill is the best he has been since The Wolf of Wall Street, clearly relishing playing the snarky son of the president who has only got his position through sheer negligence. His smarmy, under his breath delivery is anything but hilarious, with a eulogy for the myriad of physical items that will be lost if the world ends a particular stand-out. Then there is Mark Rylance as Peter Isherwell, an amalgamation of tech giants ranging from Jeff Bezos to Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. It’s a ridiculously over-the-top performance, from the nasally, carefully measured cadence Rylance employs to the artificially white smile he flashes despite his “genius” ideas blowing up in his face at every turn. But in a film with a cast this stacked there are bound to be a few weak links, and perhaps the weakest is Ariana Grande – playing a painfully exaggerated pop-star – whose big fundraiser performance scene stops the film dead in its tracks; a bizarre detour that robs the momentum going into the big finale and one that only feels present to showcase Grande’s voice, regardless of its relevance to the plot.
It’s hard to imagine a film with as good a cast as Don’t Look Up just being fine, but alas, Adam McKay’s latest film places too much emphasis on hammering the audience with its message that it forgets to embrace the over-the-top hilarity that the situation and these actors present. DiCaprio and Lawrence anchor the film in the way you would expect from actors of their calibre, but it is Jonah Hill and Mark Rylance that steal the show, offering brief glimpses at what the film should be had it fully embraced the zaniness it only dabbles in. A perfectly watchable experience while you are in it, Don’t Look Up never provides too many reasons for anyone to ever look up at it on the screen again. We get the point Mr. McKay, but what’s Ricky Bobby doing these days?
Don’t Look Up stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Melanie Lynskey, Himesh Patel, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans & Meryl Streep – Streaming on Netflix now.