Don’t Look Up: Self-Indulgent Satire (Netflix)

Adam McCay (Writer/Director) has made some terrific comedic films, including "Anchorman" and "The Big Short."  Despite its all-star cast, however, "Don't Look Up" is a satire that, although amusing most of the time and occasionally very funny, is not nearly as clever as McCay apparently thinks it is.  Also, its 138-minute length makes it about 45 minutes too long. Astronomer Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) and his intern, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), are enjoying their usual day, when Kate discovers a new comet.  Mindy performs some calculations and the mathematics prove that the comet will strike Earth, head-on, in about 6 months, thereby causing a Terminal Event!  (The end of all life on Earth.)  Totally freaked out, an emergency appointment is arranged with President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her Chief of Staff son, Jason (Jonah Hill).  President Orlean, however, is quite skeptical of their findings.  Furthermore, she is far more concerned with getting herself re-elected, and this bummer news will worsen her odds of re-election. Mindy and Dibiasky go on TV to get the message out, but way too much of the USA doesn't believe or care about their doomsday findings.  The talk show hosts on a morning news show are much more concerned about the latest fad diet!  If something isn't done soon to change the course of the comet (e.g. nuclear weapons to veer it off course), then all will be lost. The satire seems to mirror at least the USA's response to climate change – or even the country's divisiveness about how to respond to Covid – but too many of the scenes are unnecessary and just not that funny (although a few of them are).  The film doesn't need anywhere near 138 minutes to make its point! The cast is great, and its a solid rental still worth watching on Netflix, but it's not a Top-20 film!  Although the movie conveys a sense of urgency, I'd be in no hurry to watch it.