‘Don’t Look Up’ both entertains, enlightens

“Don’t Look Up” is about two astronomers who must go on a media tour to warn everyone of a comet that will destroy planet Earth in 6 months and 14 days. 

Although hopefully nothing like that is happening, when I saw the movie, I immediately started to think about what I would do if something like that were to actually happen. But besides thinking about the end of the world, I liked this movie, which reminded me of  Saturday Night Live sketches. “Don’t Look Up” is funny with a good humor and little sly jokes here and there. Not to mention some of my favorite artists were in the movie, such as Kid Cudi, and that’s the reason I decided to watch it anyway.   

In the movie, main characters Randall (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) discover a giant comet threatening our planet. When they go to warn the media about this comet, they are looked at as “crazy” or even, for Kate, “delusional”. Most people think it’s a hoax and that Randall and Kate are just lying for fame and popularity. The media starts to make memes out of the situation, and no one is taking them seriously… not even the President. We see this every day: some random celebrity is getting blasted for something cheesy, and the media and magazines buy it. Now, if some astronomers came on the news today talking about an Earth-demolishing comet, I would hope society would take them seriously. I know I would.

This really starts to frustrate Randall and Kate because no one is looking at the proven science, and no one is trying to prevent it from happening. The both decide to start just fending for themselves at this point and do what they feel is best. Turns out, what they think is best is spending what they think are their last few moments together.

While it was nominated for Best Picture and three other categories in the 2022 Academy Awards, it did not win, and this movie has raised some red flags among critics considering it’s such a controversial topic. “Don’t Look Up” is satire, substituting climate change with a comet crisis. The topic and criticism about climate change can be challenging. Critics say the actors are “annoying,” because the film is so over the top, and the serious message about climate change gets lost. I disagree, however. I thought the actors did good job that fit the tone of the film. I don’t think the movie was supposed to have a “deep meaning,” but just be a funny, political movie.  Others must have expected a more serious take rather than a “shallow” and “messy” kind of satire. But “Don’t Look Up”  shows how American society reacts to stuff like this. There’s a lot we don’t take seriously. I’m not big into politics, but I definitely started to wonder if something like this has happened before? 

While watching this movie, I would kind of look at our society from a third person view. I didn’t take the movie as seriously as maybe others did, but I did question whether climate change is something we all need to believe in in order to solve it.

The last 20 minutes of the movie were by far my favorite part of the film. I liked the clips from actual documentaries and pictures.  It’s kind of scary to think about how this is the impact we are leaving on the Earth. Will our time come sooner than we thought? Should we start looking up? Should I start taking political movies more seriously? Maybe we all should.