‘Don’t Look Up’: a savage satire of today’s America

Above : Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio star in the Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up.” (Photo/Netflix)

Movie review : “Don’t Look Up,” directed and co-written by Adam McKay, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry. Streaming on Netflix.

Adam McKay ’s filmmaking origins are rooted firmly in comedy. The tone of his comedy has, though, morphed in recent years toward the dark side.

Most everything about, say, 2004’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” – which McKay co-wrote with actor Will Ferrell – is funny. Even farcical, as only Ferrell can play it.

But 2015’s “The Big Short” – which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar – is a different story. Though starring at least one bona-fide comic talent in Steve Carell, “The Big Short” is a sobering look at the roots of the 2008 housing bust that very nearly wrecked the U.S. economy. What comedy the film boasts is of the grin-and-bear-it kind.

“Don’t Look Up,” McKay’s new film for Netflix, is a kind of hybrid. While the basic plotline is straight out of a science-fiction disaster film – one involving, at least at the outset, a plot borrowed from Michael Bay’s 1998 extravaganza “Armageddon” – its tone is purely satirical. Better yet, make that savagely satirical.

The concept is straightforward: A graduate student doing research in a Michigan State University astronomy lab named Kate Dibiasky (played by Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a comet. Everyone in the lab considers this good news, including her supervisory professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (played by Lenardo DiCaprio).

That is, they do until they start doing some math calculations, which leads them to the conclusion that the comet – which is as big as Mount Everest – is headed directly toward Earth. The comet, quite simply, will be a planet killer.

What to do? Kate and Randall figure, understandably, that the government should know. And here is where “Don’t Look Up” begins it trek toward an unhinged ethernet. Because their efforts, as noble as they are, run afoul of traditional politics catered to fit 21st-century concerns. The president (played by none other than Meryl Streep) and her chief-of-staff (who just happens to be her son, played by Jonah Hill) – at first think the two scientists are overreacting. As Hill’s character snidely points out, they don’t exactly carry Ivy League credentials.

And even when they ultimately do come to believe the bad news, every decision the president makes is designed either to win Congressional and/or public support or to appease her wealthy political donors, the most influential one being an Elon Musk-type entrepreneur named Peter Isherwell (played by Mark Rylance).

This causes Randall and Kate to go rogue and, again – in a familiar scenario – seek out the press. But this is no longer an “All the President’s Men” world, and when news that the world is likely going to end doesn’t receive enough social-media traction – or even as much traction as the news that a pop-star duo (played by Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi) will be reconciling after their much-publicized breakup – well, you can guess the rest.

And you’d be mostly correct. Randall ends up selling out and allows himself to get waylaid by a popular TV host (played by Cate Blanchett, whose affably clueless onscreen partner is played by Tyler Perry). Randall even becomes an actual spokesman for the president, while Kate stays true to her ethics, loses everything and ends up hooking up with a disaffected skateboarder (played by Timotheé Chalamet).

Throughout, McKay keeps the contemporary references going – some comic, some absurd, all recognizable. The world quickly become polarized between those who want the government to do something to avoid disaster and those who believe such thinking is both alarmist – and, worse, anti-business.

Which brings us to the film’s title. Before her career implodes, Kate is one of the influencers urging people to “Just Look Up” – to see the truth for themselves that science has been warning them about. Meanwhile, the president – co-opted again – trumpets loudly “ Don’t Look Up!”

And where’s the comedy in what happens next? Good question. For the answer, you can always consult “Dr. Strangelove.”