Don’t Look Up: Is the Obvious Climate Change Parable Worth Watching?

Adam McKay’s satirical film is not subtle. The climate change parable uses a comet flying towards Earth as a metaphor for what many believe to be the greatest threat to the human species in our history. The movie mocks climate change skeptics, shallow TV personalities, social media obsessed celebrities, as well as a portion of society that seems to have become skeptical of science. Very few are left unscathed by this dark and nasty movie.

The first third to half of the movie feels like an SNL sketch, and a funny one at that. Only it just keeps going and going. By the end, the movie is shrill and spiteful to the point of literally screaming at the audience. It’s incredible cast and respectable number of good jokes simply could not save what became a tough movie to finish.

The movie begins with the discovery of a comet flying directly at Earth. It is a planet killer and only a desperate mission to stop the collision will save Earth. Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his doctoral student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovered the comet and bring their findings to the President, played by the legendary Meryl Streep. She and her Chief of Staff son, played by Jonah Hill, do not take the threat seriously, chalking up as one of many crises that advocates bring to their office every week.

Ignored by their government, the two astronomers take their discovery to the newspapers and a chipper morning TV show hosted by Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett. The two astronomers try desperately to convince the country and the world that they are facing certain doom and must act immediately to stop it. Thankfully, the President faces a scandal involving her Supreme Court nominee—who is a former porn star and never graduated law school—and decides the comet is a perfect distraction.

Up to that point, the movie was loaded with satire on a number of topics, from feel-good TV, obsession with social media, and an ignorant government fixated on election victories rather than governing. The satire was clever most of the time with a couple that missed with surreal moments of utter stupidity.

From this point on, the movie died a slow death. Had Adam McKay been able to wrap it up here somehow and make a solid 90 minute comedy, I really think it could’ve worked. Only Adam McKay and Co. could not help themselves. The movie was an arduous 138 minutes long, too long for a dark comedy. The jokes became repetitive and a whole lot dumber. There was an obvious unfettered rage driving them, namely all climate change skeptics and Trump voters. In one scene, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character broke down on a live TV show and began screaming at the camera asking why we don’t listen to each other and why we can’t fix it. He nearly broke the fourth wall with his horrified rant. It was truly painful to watch and took me out of the movie from that point on.

Bad jokes followed the rant. In a solemn moment, Jonah Hill’s character called for everyone around the country to pray for and be thankful for “stuff.” Really? The joke is pathetic and pales in comparison to the much sharper jokes and writing earlier in the movie. No one in the theater laughed.

The move becomes dark and angry all the way to the end. It was obviously meant to demonstrate the tragedy of the ignorant skeptics who literally refused to look up and see the comet in the sky for themselves as it was closing in on our planet. However, the movie had been calling people stupid for so long, this joke just doesn’t land at all. Combined with the childish thankful for stuff joke, I wondered if someone else wrote the second half of the movie.

Calling your subject stupid is not satire. That’s just an insult. Suggesting they’d knowingly let their children die on the off chance they could become rich is not satire. That’s an insult. Having your characters scream at the audience is not satire. Dr. Mindy is not having an admirable moment of self-righteous glory. He is having a temper tantrum.

I left the theater with two questions: who is this movie for? and, is it worth watching?

Given the subject of the jokes, it is definitely not marketed towards anyone who voted for Trump or is moderate in their views towards climate change. Who wants to be called stupid for two hours? They certainly aren’t going to be persuaded by the message or “wake up.”

Screaming at people may wake them up from a nap but it is hard to understand how any filmmaker or screenwriter could possibly believe that this approach is persuasive in any way. So, that obviously is not the objective.

The movie is for those passionate about fighting climate change. Given the lack of success of previous movies with such niche political activist audiences, it is hard to see this being a successful film. More likely, it is being submitted for critical acclaim and award nominations.

Is it worth watching?

The first hour or so is worth watching. Some of the scenes are indeed hilarious and exceptionally well-performed. The only shrill voice is that of Jennifer Lawrence’s character who is in a panic that they are all going to die and no one seems to care. Her panicked rant and the backlash worked far better than DiCaprio’s tantrum later. His felt less attributable to his character and the plot, and more to how Leonardo himself feels about climate change skeptics.

The second half of the movie just isn’t funny or moving. It is a cinematic temper tantrum that made many cringe. There were numerous moments in the movie that made me cringe. As someone who is deeply concerned about climate change, I wanted to enjoy this movie but I did not. It’s a great premise for a SNL sketch or maybe a short film. It doesn’t work for 2+ hours.

Should Hollywood be making targeted political satire at all in this divisive era? Those that disagree will assume it is Hollywood elitist propaganda and will never see the movie. Those who agree may see the movie, although not enough for the production company to break even. In the end, movies like Don’t Look Up do not move the needle. They do not promote discussion, they are not persuasive, and often do not entertain or leave any lasting impression.

If anything, the movie likely helps harden both sides, further contributing to the highly divisive views on issues like climate change.

In short, Don’t Look Up may win awards but if that was the objective, it was a shallow one. When filmmakers make films to impress their filmmaker buddies, audiences walk away. The absolutely atrocious TV ratings for the last Academy Awards is compelling evidence of that. It feels more and more like filmmakers and actors aren’t really making movies for audiences anymore. As Dr. Mindy exclaimed, we don’t talk to each other. How do we fix that?

This is not how.

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