Don’t Look Up

Don’t Look Up

By James Davidson

“Don’t Look Up” is a satirical comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. It is available exclusively on the Netflix streaming service. Astronomer Kate Diblaskey (played by Lawrence) discovers an asteroid on a collision course with earth that will destroy all life on the planet. Diblaskey and her boss, Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) try to tell the government about it in order to come up with a plan to destroy the asteroid, only to realize that the government doesn’t care about their discovery unless it politically or monetarily benefits them. The two astronomers desperately try to get anyone and everyone to listen to them, only to realize that getting mankind to care about their own destruction is more difficult than they realized.

When I saw that Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence were starring in this film, I was excited to check it out. The trailers made it seem as though it was a funny satirical film with light Science-Fiction aspects. I was not disappointed in this movie as it delivered exactly what I was hoping for.

DiCaprio and Lawrence delivered excellent performances. Their portrayal of the characters perfectly captures the desperation, and emotional anguish that the two astronomers must have felt when no one would listen to them. The humor, while a bit politically heavy, was quite good and had me chuckling throughout the film.

I thought the writers did an excellent job capturing the political environment and making it funny in a satirical way. The political climate of this film hits close to home and does a good job at portraying extremists on both sides of the spectrum. While I didn’t agree with all of the message, I thought it was presented in a jocular way that was fun, accurate, and thought provoking.

The writers also did a good job at making the characters relatable. My wife and I were able to relate to several of the characters and remarked that is exactly how we would react if faced with certain extinction.

This movie is rated R for language throughout, some sexual content, graphic nudity, and drug content. This movie is definitely not for younger viewers. As you can imagine, the way some people reacted to facing certain death was to indulge in some mature activities and this movie does show it in various degrees of detail. This would be a good movie to watch during a night in with your significant other, or during a night in with yourself.

“Don’t Look Up” is a funny, smartly written satirical look at our world today. Even if you don’t agree with all of the messages, you will see some stark parallels to the real world today. While it was a good movie and I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching it, I don’t know if I would watch it again. It was good, but I don’t know if it has repeatability in my opinion. It earns 3 out of 5 stars.