Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are some of the ‘Saturday Night Live‘ cast members who became movie stars. A successful transition from television to film is rare, even rarer for writers on the show. But Adam McKay did it. After years of making iconic comedies like ‘Step Brothers’ and ‘Talladega Nights,’ Mckay branched into a satire about the environmental crisis with ‘Don’t Look Up‘ with Leonardo DiCaprio.
‘Don’t Look Up‘ came right after ‘Vice,’ McKay’s film about former vice-president Dick Cheney. What wasn’t there to love about the movie? With Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, and Cate Blanchett forming one half of the heavenly cast, people were excited to see all of them star in a mainstream comedy. Keep reading to learn what went wrong.
Related: ‘White Noise’: What Makes The Adam Driver Starrer Film A Perfect Novel Adaptation?
All About ‘Don’t Look Up’ Plot
From a distance, Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up is a celestial gathering, but an up-close look will reveal how much of a void it really is. Leonardo Di Caprio (Dr. Randall Mindy) and Jennifer Lawrence (Kate Diabiasky) are low-level astronomers who find a comet. Planet ender, as they call it, is not far away, but to their surprise, nobody cares.
Not even President Orleans (Meryl Streep) as both watch the world around them taking to the safe and secure blanket of denial.As they try to spread more awareness, watch how governmental and media forces leave no stone unturned in massively discrediting these people of science, as the propaganda ‘We are A-okay’ is in full transmission.
In Case You Missed: Leonardo DiCaprio Improvised The Most Iconic Dialogue In “Don’t Look Up”
‘Don’t Look Up’ Is All Over The Place With Its Message
Unlike the comet destroying the planet, McKay’s satire misses the mark. Watching the high-caliber cast trying to work with the material in hand is devastating. The jokes are atrocious, and the satire isn’t smart enough. No person in this film isn’t giving it all, but there’s a palpable feeling of comedy not being a strength of most due to lack of finesse in writing. McKay takes his wild swings with visual storytelling choices as to how the cosmic calamity will be dealt with; he’s oblivious about how it pieces together.
‘Don’t Look Up‘ serves a tempting premise where intellectual ignorance and political greed conveniently integrate. It seems to say intelligent things it wants to say about the lack of pugilistic conversations about planet earth. However, it wraps itself around the idiocracy of flat-earthers and climate change deniers. Is it against them? Does it surrender to them? Is our time near? Can nothing be done? Should we be done with, join hands, and sings sermons of the apocalypse? With all it is trying to say, ‘Don’t Look Up’ comes off as an apology that’s a little too late. And it’s not even a good one.
You Might Also Like To Read: Why Did Matthew Perry Leave ‘Don’t Look Up’?