“Don’t Look Up” is stuffed to the brim with stars who can act. Some of those you will see in this movie are: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Ariana Grande and Tyler Perry. This is a tongue-in-cheek satire which will not appeal to everyone. The premise is that two astronomers, Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky, played by DiCaprio and Lawrence, discover that a comet larger than the one that killed the dinosaurs is heading for earth. But this one is large enough to completely destroy life on the planet. The comet will arrive in six months. As our intrepid astronomers try to warn people and get them to take the situation seriously, no one believes them or even seems to care. The media, portrayed by Blanchett and Perry, are parodied as the typical, utterly shallow and phony entertainment influencers of today. Blanchett is only focused on how handsome Mindy is, and loses interest in him once he loses his ratings draw. Perry is a mindless, sycophant. And of course, alternative media steps in to provide the idiotic, anti-science opposition. The government initially takes things seriously, but thanks to the interference of a mega-donor communications company owner (Rylance), hoping to exploit the resources the comet contains, they switch to his plan. Of course, the plan fails utterly and we are all undone. Meryl Streep plays the president of the United States as a clueless Trump-like character, while Jonah Hill is absolutely despicable as as her son (and Chief of Staff) who doesn’t appear to have ANY people skills whatsoever, or any intelligence for that matter. You may feel like punching both of them by the end of the movie. There are some serious topics lampooned including greed, gullibility, nepotism, media responsibility, corruption, vanity, celebrity-obsession and politics. Sounds like a rather heavy handed, if absolutely on point, pillorying the worst aspects of social media and politics? It is. If you watch, make sure you watch the mid-credit scene because you will be glad you did! I loved this, and right now you can only see it on Netflix, so no worries about going out to a theatre.
Don’t Look Up
Apple Rating:
This was recommended to me by a friend. I watched it with my mom. We both really enjoyed it. It has a great cast. It is over the top, but it really needed to be. There are running jokes.
There is a mid-credit scene, buy there is also one at the very, very end after all of the credits…so don’t forget to look for it too!
Kristen, thank you for pointing out the second end of credit scene, that one was pretty good too. I am glad you enjoyed this, and I agree, it is over top (but in a good way). My favorite running gag had to do with the snacks.