‘Don’t Look Up’ movie review: Adam McKay’s brutal satire aims to stay-comets

It’s hard to pick favorite actors or scenes from this satirical black comedy because there are so many of them. Written and directed by Adam McKay (the big short, don’t look up Kate (Jennifer Lawrence), who is pursuing her PhD in astronomy at Michigan State University. Kate learns of a comet that is heading towards Earth. Her professor, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), calculates the comet’s trajectory, realizing that it is about to hit Earth in six months, destroying all life.

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The two get in touch with NASA with the news, and turn to Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), the head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. He sets up a meeting with President Jenny Orlean (Meryl Streep), who isn’t particularly interested.

Despite Kate’s meltdown on the talk show her attempt to get the news out through the media doesn’t work, The Daily Rip, Hosted by Brie Eventi (Cate Blanchett) and Jack Bremer (Tyler Perry), Goes Viral.

While the two grumble about the end of the earth, the world is only haunted by pop star Riley Bina’s (Ariana Grande) relationship with DJ Chelo (Scott Mescudi). Once the President learns that Doomsday is a cool way to divert attention from a sex scandal she’s been embroiled in, she plays it up to everyone.

A soldier, Benedict Drask (Ron Perlman), is chosen to turn the comet, though Mindy mutters that it would not be better to do it remotely. “Washington has always needed heroes,” said one pundit. The mission is aborted as tech billionaire Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) learns that the comet is full of precious minerals. So, the new plan is to blow up the comet and mine the minerals.

The world is divided into those who urge people to try and watch the rapidly approaching comet, and others who do not believe in comets and insist that people do not look up. Everything happens at warp speed on social media.

The ensemble performances brought life to the characters; From the tech guru of Rylance to the smoking hot, opportunistic, narcissistic president of Streep. Jason (Jonah Hill) is hilarious as the president’s son and chief of staff, while Blanchett is a hoot as the shallow and hard-nosed Brie.

DiCaprio effortlessly hides her blonde good looks as the plaid-shirt-clad, pill-popping, worried Mindy under a trendy haircut, beard and round glasses, while Lawrence’s Kate, even kinky hair. With, far from angry. Katniss.

Timothée Chalamet makes a sweet-tongued yule, who becomes a fan of Kate’s meltdown memes after all. Yule and Kate begin a relationship after returning home to Michigan. Himesh Patel plays the role of Philip, Kate’s cadish boyfriend, who seeks to profit from her notoriety.

There are also minor roles to play, from Perlman’s hoax and politically incorrect Drask to Michael Chiklis as Dan Pawketty, a conservative television show news anchor and Liev Schreiber for Bash, Isherwell’s company. There’s also an Avenger in the form of Devin Peters, who is said to have starred in a movie called – You Got It – total devastation, After the news of the coming comet became public.

don’t look up Like all good superhero movies there are middle and end-credits sequences. ‘Second Nature’, composed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Nicolas Brittel, which plays at the end, sums up the astonishment and absurdity with the words- “When is that excitement… will there be a merchant?” If tinsel and good cheer are too much for you this season, you may do well to sink your teeth into this brutal satire.

Not Look Up is currently streaming on Netflix