Don’t Look Up fails to accomplish its intended purpose

The star-studded film “Don’t Look Up” is a massive hit for Netflix. It has already become the streaming service’s second most-watched movie despite the fact that it was released only on Dec 5, 2021. I don’t believe this film deserve such high recognition.

Director Adam McKay has formed a brand for himself as a political filmmaker, whether with his film “The Big Short,” about the 2007-2008 financial crisis, or “Vice,” about the political career of Dick Cheney. With a list of many award-winning actors, McKay returns to the scene with his newest film “Don’t Look
Up.”

The film tackles the issue of climate change at large, creating a story where a huge comet is hurtling towards Earth. With covering such a large scope, McKay works to satirize every element of our current political and social outlook on the topic.

Though the film has often funny and sometimes shocking moments, the film comes off a deeply pretentious, failing to effectively inspire any changes in our current political environment.

The film features Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), two scientists who discover a comet that would destroy all life on Earth. These scientists bring their discovery to President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep), who at first ignores the comet and then uses it to
boost her reelection chances. Later in the film, she changes her stance when a tech giant finds rare elements in the comet that could be profitable. What results is an over two-hour political skit, mocking everything from news media, big business to the incompetence of world leaders.

This broad scope is ultimately the films downfall. In covering climate change at large and all of the issues within the fight for environmental stability, the film takes on way too much, like the film’s treatment of broadcast journalism. Viewers only see one significant news show called “The Daily Rip,” where the
hosts are characterized being far too caught up in celebrity culture.

The message resented is clear: Our news outlets focus way too much on celebrity gossip and not enough on real, pressing issues. But what does this have to do with climate change? What about the other blatant issues in modern day journalism, like misinformation, which may have more damaging
effects in our environmental failures? In simplifying this issue, the film doesn’t accomplish anything it was intended to do and gives less attention to the more serious aspects.

Another important aspect to highlight is the evident hypocrisy of the film overall. Climate change most dramatically impacts poor people and is most significantly caused by the wealthy. The relative wealth of those who created and acted in the film is highly unrepresentative of this disadvantaged community. The film was surely enjoyable solely for the cast, but failed at what is so blatantly determined to be its mission.

Ultimately, “Don’t Look Up” is a success and a purely fun film, but fails to serve as anything more. If one can look past the messaging, and only focus on the plot, it’s really enjoyable. However, the film is so broad in its political imagery that it’s hard to ignore. Instead of mocking a very real and pressing issue we need to focus on effectively informing the public to encourage change. I give Don’t Look Up a C.