Don’t Look Up
released 2021
www.ink2quill.com

“Don’t Look Up” is an American, scifi, comedy with its pulse on the times produced by Cate Hardman, Jennifer Madeloff, Adam McKay, Kevin J. Messick, David Sirota, Staci Roberts Steele, Ron Suskind, Tony Grazia and Jeff G. waxman. It was directed by Adam McKay who also wrote the screenplay with David Sirota. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Himesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey, Sam Xu, June Mindy, Paul Guilfoyle, Michael Chiklis and so many others.

Don’t Look Up IMDb webpage

“Don’t Look Up” starts off simply enough with two astronomers who must communicate to the leaders of nations, particularly the US, that a comet large enough to wipe out life on Earth is headed toward Earth and should be arriving in about 6 months. The astronomer that discovers the comet is Kate Dibiasky, played by Jennifer Lawrence. She is the student who finds the comet and is working toward her Phd under Dr. Randall Mindy, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a nervous wreck. All of that sounds simple enough but this story really is about the craziness of personalities that keeps things from getting done and tries its best to cover the facts up. That is where this story is, in the space where hysterics and pettiness flourish.

It’s interesting that this film was not classified as a comedy by some of the movie websites and blogs. Take for example the scene where the astronomers are waiting to meet President Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, when they are cheated out of money by General Themes, played by Paul Guilfoyle. Here you have a top member of the US Government and the Defense Department who gets his kicks cheating some kooky academics out of a few dollars. This is a guy with a great salary, pension and benefits who decides to take the money from some academic nobodies. I guess he really has nothing better to do. That’s kind of funny. People like that are kind of funny. Example number two. The President Orlean who is seen running nude with a tramp stamp tatoo on her lower back in some pirated video of her. She has more scandals than most presidents like hiring her son Jason, played by Jonah Hill, who is not in the least qualified or charming. Now Jason is another gem that has nothing better to do than hassle the astronomers, namely Kate. He is a complete zero like his mother.

This is really a first rate comedy because it pokes fun and highlights truths about the problems we face as a nation and the problems of our times. Like the ‘Don’t Look Up’ movement. Where some people were encouraged to ignore the bad news of the comet’s arrival even when it was visible in the sky and those people wore red, while the people who wanted the truth out wore blue with the T-shirts and pins and caps. This reminds me of a certain president and the controversy surrounding him with red caps and such. One of the reasons some hesitate to call “Don’t Look Up” a comedy is because it points to those inadequacies in our government by those we chose to govern us. This story really is symbolic in how our problems as a nation seem impossible to solve with foolish people at the helm. Everything is a chaotic mess and what do you choose to do about it? This film seems to ask and answer in the different characters.

Check out “Don’t Look Up” because it’s a great watch and a good laugh. Just don’t take it too seriously because there is no comet coming to wipe us all out just foolish people running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

John Ink2Quill

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