Don't Look Up

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Minesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey, Michael Chiklis, Paul Guilfoyle, Sarah Silverman, Liev Schreiber (cameo), Chris Evans (cameo)
Directed by: Adam McKay
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence) discover a comet hurtling towards the Earth, but their pleas for the world to do something fall mostly on deaf ears.

Review:

Tim: I've appreciated director Adam McKay's venture into more contemporary-topic films. It resulted in a great movie The Big Short and a really good film Vice. His combination of looking at economics and politics through a lens of humor is wonderful. In those films, the Great Recession and Dick Cheney are anything but funny. Laughing about them while also maintaining this serious underbelly certainly creates memorable viewing experience. Here, he does the same thing with Climate Change (expressed in the movie as a comet hurtling towards the Earth). While this approach results in a good movie, it felt less effective than those previous two films.

I guess I should start by saying that I certainly respect the scientific data that suggests our planet is currently going through a global climate change, spurred on by the activities of humanity. I don't like when people talk about "believing" in climate change, like it's Santa Claus. So, I appreciated McKay making this movie as a thinly veiled allegory about the Earth's changing climate and our collective indifference to it. It's absolutely the right time for it. The allegory works well within the context of this comet-hitting-the-Earth story. I do think that McKay occasionally took it to absurd lengths. I know this is a comedy, but some of the comedic attempts undermine his larger message. He's lampooning government officials and many other supposedly intelligent people who blindly deny climate change, but I wish he'd shown a bit more restraint at times. Throughout the movie, the message feels like it occasionally gets lost in the farce. I'm not saying the movie needed less comedy, just better comedy. For example, I think the film's funniest joke was the running gag about paying for free snacks. Those moments were hilarious, but the other, actual comedic attempts at ripping climate change deniers should have been funnier.

In addition to the story, the biggest reason to see this movie is the incredible cast. McKay absolutely assembles an all star team here. The movie is led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. It was great fun seeing these two together. I'm not sure I ever loved their characters, but they both put in exceptionally strong performances. DiCaprio is one of the best actors of our time and he's dialed in here. It was quite fun seeing him play a more lighthearted, comedic role. His comedic timing is strong and he takes this character on quite a journey. I appreciate that DiCaprio improvised the film's final line, which is a poignant exclamation point on the story. Lawrence was quite good, too. Her character often felt a bit one-note, but she plays the role quite well. She's long proven herself to be a comedy force and that shows up here. It was truly entertaining to see two talents like DiCaprio and Lawrence playing off each other. I hope they make more movies together.

The supporting cast was incredible. I thought Rob Morgan did an outstanding job. I've long been a fan of Morgan and despite not being the name that much of the cast is, his performance rivaled any of them. Meryl Streep was strong in a buffoonish Presidential role. I thought she did well. Cate Blanchett was excellent, disappearing into this character that reminds us of the worst kinds of TV personalities. She didn't have a large role, but made a lasting impact on the film. She was certainly better than Tyler Perry, who wasn't bad, but wasn't quite good. Jonah Hill added a lot of humor to the film. The movie desperately needed to be a bit funnier and thankfully, Hill makes us laugh. Mark Rylance gives a weird, memorable performance that felt like it hit all the right notes in taking down arrogant tech billionaires. It was easy to hate his character. I like Timothee Chalamet, but his character felt unnecessary. It felt like an add-on and an expanded role because he's Timothee Chalamet, not because the story called for it. Ariana Grande is a terrible actress, that was my takeaway from her performance. The often underestimated Melanie Lynskey adds a strong performance, but she doesn't get a whole lot to do. Chris Evans shows up for a fun but ultimately kind of pointless cameo. Still, as a whole, this is one of the better casts you'll see and McKay mostly gives them opportunities to shine.

While I enjoyed the message and the allegorical story, Don't Look Up has some problems. First up, it's absurd that the movie clocks in at 2 hours, 18 minutes. That's unacceptably long for a movie like this. I think it would have been more effective with some lengthy cuts and a 1:50 run time. There's just too much unnecessary in the film. McKay's vision is a good one, but the story becomes bloated. This really starts to impact the final third of the film. The movie is good, but it starts to get to be a bit much. At one point, I hoped the comet would hurry up and arrive. That's not good.

The movie features strong performances, but it too often strays into the absurd at the expense of the message. Not all the jokes are funny and some strain our patience. Many work and McKay's biting commentary is appreciated. The unevenness of the story definitely hurts the overall quality.

In the end, I liked Don't Look Up. I think it's a good movie with a powerful message. My only concern is that it's such a relevant film that the more liberal members of Hollywood will likely elevate the film higher than it should go. I can see Academy Award nominations for the cast and maybe writing, but this is definitely not one of the better films of 2021 and I hope people don't pretend it is.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Big Short, The Aviator, Vice, Before the Flood