Is It Worth the Watch?

Can the complete and total annihilation of Earth and every living being on it ever be funny?

Netflix’s Don’t Look Up proves it can be hilarious, albeit in an unsettling way. It sits firmly in that rarest of genres: hilarious and simultaneously horrifying. (In fairness, I have a weird sense of humor, so you might be surprised, even concerned, by what I find funny.)

Two low-level scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) discover a massive meteor hurtling on an eminent collision course with Earth. Their attempts to warn humanity of assured destruction fall on deaf ears, including the president (Meryl Streep), who is only concerned about how it will affect her poll numbers.

It’s sharp satire and laugh-out-loud farce of political manipulation, head-in-the-sand deniers, social media, pop-culture obsession and blind allegiance to powers working against the people‘s best interest in favor of financial gain. Also not the usual stuff of comedy.

The ensemble cast provides outstanding performances, especially Mark Rylance as a billionaire computer savant with no clue what to do.

Smart, fresh, and imaginative, it’s refreshing to see artists creating film projects reacting to the world around them in an immensely entertaining yet pointed way. It’s a terrific film.

Is It Worth The Watch? It is intense, ironic, awkward and uncomfortable. And extremely funny. Kinda like life these days.

2021

138 minutes

Starring – Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Mark Rylance, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi

Screenplay and Direction – Adam McKay