Reviewing "Don't Look Up": A hilarious, poignant satire of just how badly humanity deals with impending doom

Don't Look Up is a satire film written and directed by Adam McKay, who previously directed Vice (starring Christian Bale) and The Big Short. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep. The film is about two astronomers, Randall and Kate (DiCaprio and Lawrence) who discover a comet that will impact the Earth and end human civilization in 6 months. Their attempts to warn the government falls on deaf ears as President Orlean (Streep) is more concerned with trivial matters than averting a global disaster, leading to Randall and Kate deciding to just leak the news of the comet to the press. We are then confronted with the horrifying realization of humanity's collective apathy and head-in-the-sand response to disaster, as well as our ability to let greed override all else.

The film works as a brilliant satire of climate change denial, with public opinion becoming divided among those who demand that the comet be destroyed, those who see financial gain in exploiting the resources on the comet, and those who deny the comet's very existence. Is the metaphor explicit? Yes. Does it work? For the most part, it does. Although it feels a little too cynical at times with how the general public is portrayed as apathetic or deep in denial, and could come off as smug, I think it doesn't feel self-important. It certainly gets the point across, the point being that humanity collectively needs to heed the warnings of climate change before our apathy dooms us all. It also does this with a lot of humor and a lot of heart, with some surprisingly poignant scenes as well as some truly hilarious lines from Jennifer Lawrence. Also, the jazzy main theme stayed in my head for quite a while, so that's another plus. On the whole, Don't Look Up is a great satire of denial mentality and how people are content to ignore pressing issues, with a lot of darkly comedic moments and a clear message, and it definitely hits more often than it misses.

Score: 8/10

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