Don't Look Up
dir. Adam McKay · 2021
Plot
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem - it's on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate. With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry). With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media obsessed public before it's too late proves shockingly comical - what will it take to get the world to just look up?.
Why watch
A comet the size of Mount Everest is hurtling toward Earth, but the world seems more interested in celebrity gossip than impending doom. Kate Dibiasky and Dr. Randall Mindy embark on a media tour to alert the public, only to be met with indifference and absurdity at every turn. Watching this film is like being caught in a whirlwind of dark humor and biting satire, where the stakes are life and death, yet the response is laughably inadequate.