‘Don’t Look Up’ movie review: Adam McKay’s savage satire aims for the sta— comets

Dec 24,2021

It is hard to pick favourite actors or scenes from this satirical black comedy as there are so many of them. Written and directed by Adam McKay ( The Big Short ), Don’t Look Up tells the story of Kate (Jennifer Lawrence), doing her PhD in astronomy at Michigan State University. Kate discovers a comet heading for earth. Her professor, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), calculating the trajectory of the comet, realises it is going to hit the earth in six months, annihilating all life.

The two get in touch with NASA with the news, and are put on to Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), the head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. He sets up a meeting with the President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep), who is not particularly interested.

Their attempts to get the news out via the media does not work though Kate’s meltdown on the talk show, The Daily Rip, hosted by Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett) and Jack Bremmer (Tyler Perry), goes viral.

While the two scream themselves hoarse about the earth coming to an end, the world seems only obsessed with pop star Riley Bina’s (Ariana Grande) relationship with DJ Chello (Scott Mescudi). Once the President realises doomsday is a good way to divert attention from a sex scandal she is embroiled in, she plays it for all it is worth.

A soldier, Benedict Drask (Ron Perlman), is selected to divert the comet though Mindy mutters would it not be better to do it remotely. “Washington always needs heroes,” a pundit intones. The mission is aborted midway because tech billionaire Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) discovers the comet is full of precious minerals. So, the new plan is to blow up the comet and mine the minerals.

The world is split into those urging people to look up and see the fast-approaching comet, and others who do not believe in the comet and insist that people not look up. Everything unfolds at warp speed on social media.

The performances by the ensemble cast breathe life into the characters; from Rylance’s tech guru to Streep’s smoking hot, opportunistic, narcissistic president. Jason (Jonah Hill) as the President’s son and Chief of Staff is hilarious, while Blanchett as shallow and hard-nosed Brie is a hoot.

DiCaprio effortlessly hides his golden good looks under an unfashionable haircut, beard and round glasses as the plaid-shirt-wearing, pill-popping, anxious Mindy, while Lawrence’s Kate, with even weirder hair, is a far cry from angsty, take-charge Katniss.

Timothée Chalamet makes for a sweetly-charming Yule, who becomes Kate’s fan after all the memes of her meltdown. Yule and Kate start a relationship after she returns home to Michigan. Himesh Patel plays Kate’s caddish boyfriend Phillip, who is looking to profit from her notoriety.

The small roles are also performed with élan from Perlman’s bluff and politically-incorrect Drask to Michael Chiklis as Dan Pawketty, news anchor on a conservative television show and Liev Schreiber as narrator for Bash, Isherwell’s company. There is also an Avenger as Devin Peters, an actor starring in a film called — you got it — Total Devastation, after news of the approaching comet goes public.

Don’t Look Up has mid and end-credit sequences like all good superhero movies. ‘Second Nature’ composed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Nicholas Britell, which plays over the end credits sums up the awe and absurdity with the words— “When’s that Rapture… will there be merch?” If the tinsel and good cheer are too much for you this season, you could do well to sink your teeth into this savage satire.

Tags:

Leonardo Dicaprio Leonardo DiCaprio in news news about Leonardo DiCaprio

Priyanka Chopra: Kareena, who was the enemy in 'Aitraaz', praised Priyanka, wrote- 'Made to rule the world'

Jul 18,2025

Priyanka Chopra is celebrating her 43rd birthday today, i.e. on 18th July. On this special occasion, the actress has been congratulated by her film 'Aitraaz' co-star Kareena Kapoor in a different style. Kareena shared an old picture of an award show on Instagram Stories and wrote that Priyanka w

Vidyut Jamwal: Vidyut Jamwal is ready for his Hollywood debut, will play a strong role in this film

Jul 15,2025

Actor Vidyut Jamwal, known for his action, is now going to make his entry in a Hollywood film. He has joined the star cast of the live-action film 'Street Fighter'. It is a film based on an iconic video game franchise.Vidyut's Hollywood entryAccording to a Deadline report, Vidyut will be seen i

Vijay Deverakonda: New update on Vijay Deverakonda's film, Kingdom's new release date will be announced today

Jul 07,2025

Vijay Deverakonda has joined hands with famous director Gautam Tinnanuri for the action drama film 'Kingdom'. There is a lot of excitement about the film since its announcement. The recently released teaser has further increased the expectations of the fans. The new release date of the f

Dhurandhar's heroine Sara Arjun's father is also a top Bollywood actor, and has worked with Shah Rukh and Aamir.

Jul 07,2025

Sara Arjun, a well-known child artist of Indian cinema, is now going to rock the big screen with Ranveer Singh, who is 20 years older. A small glimpse of Sara in the first look of the Dhurandhar movie filled the audience with excitement.Ever since Dhurandhar was announced, it was believed

Panchayat 5: Now there will be a fight for the post of Deputy Pradhan in Phulera, the makers announced 'Panchayat 5'; know the update

Jul 07,2025

Last month, on June 24, the fourth season of 'Panchayat' was released on Amazon Prime, which the audience is loving a lot. However, in this season, Manju Devi loses the election of Pradhani, which disappointed the audience. Now everyone is waiting to see what will happen in its fifth season. See

This flop film's luck changed as soon as it came on OTT, got included in the top list.

Jun 30,2025

The year 2025 has proved to be lucky for most of the Big Star films. At the same time, the story of some stars' movies was not liked on the big screen. Today we are talking about a film that proved to be a flop at the box office, but when the movie knocked on OTT, it got immense love. Let us know

Harshvardhan Rane: The poster of Harshvardhan Rane's upcoming film was released, actor was seen covered in blood; Know the name of the movie

Jun 30,2025

Actor Harshvardhan Rane, who won everyone's heart with the film 'Sanam Teri Kasam', is now going to be seen in a great film, whose poster and title have been revealed. Recently, the actor was seen preparing for this upcoming film. Let's know about this film.The first look of the film releasedT

Panchayat 4: Neena Gupta is known not only for Manju Devi of Panchayat but also for these characters

Jun 26,2025

Recently 'Panchayat 4' has been released on OTT. This series is getting a lot of love from the audience. In this, actress Neena Gupta has played the character of Manju Devi, who is the head of Phulera village. She is very much in the news at this time. Know about those films and web seri