“Don’t Look Up”

CATE BLANCHETT, TYLER PERRY, LEONARDO DICAPRIO, AND JENNIFER LAWRENCE

“Don’t Look Up”

“DON’T LOOK UP” IS A VICIOUS SATIRE, IMAG-

ining what the film calls “truly possible events” that are removed from our reality by only a few degrees of absurdity. The movie was conceived as a metaphor for manmade climate change denial—but that was before COVID-19, so it now doubles as a metaphor for pandemic denial. It’s a comedy that could only come from the mind of writer-director Adam McKay.

The most prominent element of the film is the A-list cast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Kate Dibiasky, an astronomy Ph.D. candidate who discovers a sizable comet streaking across the sky. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Michigan State professor Dr. Randall Mindy, whose calculations of the comet’s trajectory are confirmed by Rob Morgan’s deadpan NASA scientist, Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe. Their sudden, frenzied mission? To warn humanity of an Earth-destroying impact that will take place in just over six months’ time. As McKay conjectures in all-too-credible detail, the problem isn’t how to inform our politically divided, tech-obsessed society of this fact; it’s convincing them it’s true.

As ordinary characters with no media training who are thrust into the international spotlight, Lawrence and DiCaprio become audience surrogates, encountering horrific hypocrisy and selfishness at every step of their journey. Lawrence’s capacity for withering cynicism is a perfect fit for McKay’s sensibilities; she’s never had a role that showcases her comedic timing so brilliantly. The same is true for DiCaprio, who gets to take both his comedy and, in meta moments, his offscreen climate change activism deadly seriously.

The astronomers’ first and biggest obstacle is Meryl Streep’s President Janie Orlean. Her impulse to “sit tight and assess” the comet’s potential effect on her approval ratings—and turn its denial into a political platform— shouldn’t feel as plausible as it does. Only in today’s America would such egocentricity become national policy, and Streep doesn’t shy away from embodying the most cynical parts of humanity.

Jonah Hill brings the president’s son and chief of staff, Jason, to vivid life. While his lines are scripted and his reaction shots planned, Hill is the kind of performer who inhabits a character so fully that every moment feels improvised.

Next, there’s Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett as the co-hosts of a news talk show that spins the astronomers’ discovery into flippant fun. It’s eerie how convincingly Perry and Blanchett parody the kind of media personalities who would prioritize the breakup of two pop stars (Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, sending up their own personas) over something as unpalatable as the end of the world.

Further accelerating this story’s insanity is the legendary Mark Rylance as billionaire entrepreneur Peter Isherwell. Articulating hilariously halting proclamations around a set of too-straight, too-white teeth, Rylance illustrates society’s weird, worshipful reliance on technology and the ultra-rich. In this movie, nothing and no one is safe from McKay’s skewering; he even takes Hollywood itself to task for its complacency with a meta-flourish of a cameo we won’t spoil here.

Amid all the satirical mayhem, part of the fun of watching “Don’t Look Up” is the way the film combines prestige-level celebrities onscreen. DiCaprio faces off against Rylance! Streep and Blanchett appear in a scene together for the first time! Lawrence makes out with none other than Timothée Chalamet! For those who love watching great actors do what they do best, this is as close to a dream ensemble cast as you can get. —JACK SMART

MAIN CAST:Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ariana Grande, Jonah Hill, Jennifer Lawrence, Kid Cudi, Rob Morgan, Tyler Perry, Ron Perlman, Mark Rylance, Meryl Streep CASTING BY:Francine Maisler DIRECTED BY: Adam McKay WRITTEN BY:Adam McKay and David Sirota DISTRIBUTED BY: Netflix