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film reel image

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Don't Look Up 2021 * * Stars

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2021's Don't Look Up is so Adam McKay. I mean he's that director. He's the guy that makes you nervously wink wink at the corporate, the political, and the world in general. Now is McKay's Don't Look Up the wrong movie for these trying times? You bet. It's like reliving COVID all over again but with asteroids. And is Don't Look Up another reason for me to dislike the hunch of social media (which I already do)? Uh yeah.

Don't Look Up is for my taste, a black comedy. And it's probably the blackest one I can think of. It's like watching Armageddon but with less laughs and only the intermittence of special effects (which are actually done decently). The cast for Don't Look Up is vast and known (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Mark Rylance). The problem is that they come off as a little annoying, a little miscast, and just plain irksome. 

Speaking of irksome, all I gotta say is what's up with Adam McKay? His vision for Don't Look Up is well, a downer. He wants us the audience, to think that most humans are bad eggs and all we do when the Earth is about to implode is to act like smarmy smart alecks. He also wants to remind the public that death and destruction are just a Twitter post away. In real-life I know that's not how this would go down. If a comet was about to strike our fragile planet, I'm pretty sure we'd all be scared-straight. 

Don't Look Up is about two astronomers (DiCaprio as Randall Mindy and J-Law as Kate Dibiasky) who try to warn the public about a rock the size of Mt. Everest set to destroy Earth. That mysterious premise lasts about 30 minutes before Don't Look Up barrels on for another 2 hours. 

The outcome as opposed to Deep Impact and Armageddon (mentioned earlier) is not good. 99.9% of the world's population dies and you wonder, what's the point? All Adam McKay does is project satire for satire's sake. He's like a cinematic style monger who doesn't care if you accede to. Unlike the germane Vice and The Big Short, he "looks" the other way. 

Written by Jesse Burleson

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