Film: Don't Look Up

GENRE: Comedy Drama
RATING: R for language, some sexual content and nudity
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 18 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Inception, The Departed)
Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games); Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!)
DIRECTOR: Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short, Anchorman)
WRITER: McKay (Big Short, Vice, The Other Guys, SNL)
PLOT: Two astronomers need to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy the Earth.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: The impressive cast list was the draw

STORY STUFF: I kept thinking about the movie Armageddon during this film. These are the events that would happen if NASA decided to tell the public instead of sending Bruce Willis and his oil drilling team to space. McKay infuses a lot of dark humour and commentary into this apocalyptic film. There are obvious parallels to the pandemic and politics and how we get and absorb the news. It’s definitely a film that makes you think but also roll your eyes at the absurdly of their world and ours. The story moves along a good pace. The problem for me was that I didn’t feel as invested in the story as I probably could have been and maybe that’s because the film is trying to straddle the drama and comedy too much. I did love the runner about charging for free snacks. Good stuff.

ACTING STUFF: This is a stellar cast of talent and you can tell that fun is being had. It’s like summer camp. Maybe like Wet Hot American Summer camp. There is a lot of fun dialogue mixed with passionate moments. DiCaprio and Lawrence lead the cast well. Streep is a little too floopy for me. Jonah Hill (Superbad) is pretty funny with his side comments and disdain for Lawrence’s character. Mark Rylance (Dunkirk) is pretty strange as a billionaire tech CEO; he does some interesting things with his voice.  

ARTISTIC STUFF: I am not a fan of McKay’s editing choices. It seems when he gets bored, he’s put in a cutaway to some nature or a still shot or something else. I’m sure some of it has meaning but I can’t be bothered to figure it out because it’s so jarring and quick. I also hate his colourful and chunky titles at the beginning and end of the film. It looks juvenile. I did enjoy his clarification of a particular government branch.

VERDICT: Three and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You’re up for dark humour and wanna see lots of stars  
UPCOMING REVIEW: King Richard