Watching “Don’t Look Up” is like living in Poland. It’s a cosmic absurdity, but it’s a sad truth

Adam McKay is undoubtedly a man of many talents: he is successful as a director, screenwriter, film producer and comedian. That he has a sense of humor is beyond question. He started out writing sketches for the American audience’s favorite program “Saturday Night Live”. He makes jokes during interviews and conferences. He can, for example, gracefully say that, of course, he takes over him very much, whether Bennifer (the relationship of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) will survive this time, but as a man who felt socially responsible, he emphasizes that there are more important things. For example, the climate.

The Oscar-winning league on the social crusade

McKay is one of the most respected filmmakers in Hollywood today. In 2015 he won an Oscar for the script for “Big Short”. For the last four years, he has also produced the series “Sukcesja”, which is praised to the heavens, which is considered by many critics to be one of the best production in recent years. He also likes to experiment. With Will Ferrel, he dared to make an American film about Eurovision (it amuses me). It is generally assumed that he is a talented guy with good retorts. It’s no wonder then that he managed to attract an Oscar-winning cast to his new project: Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance. Jonah Hill and Timothee Chalamet already have their first nominations for this award. The problem is that all this is not a guarantee that everyone, without exception, will be delighted with what they have created together. Well, because a group of talented, rich and adored people gathered here to instruct us. And what could be more irritating than the caresses of fate convinced that they are right?

“Don’t Look Up” is a film that probably would not have been made if it were not for the presidency of Donald Trump. He is a figure known for his many sins against reason and human dignity. Ideas such as the fact that global warming does not exist and that there is no such thing as a climate crisis give it a special place on the dark pages of history. Because when the leader of the most powerful country in the world shows that he does not believe scientists (whom he does not understand), a hellish carnival begins and a spate of conspiracy theories of Twitter sages who feel impunity in their unconscious ignorance. Over the last few years, we have had the opportunity to read various weird concepts on the web. So I’m not surprised that Adam McKay decided that the perfect metaphor for the climate crisis would be the story of a giant comet heading towards the earth that will inevitably kill everyone and everything on the planet.

Can you go too far with a good cast?

Said comet is discovered by a young PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), working under the supervision of Dr. Randall Mindy (). They quickly share their discovery with NASA. When it turns out that, in fact, a murderous comet will strike the planet in six months, they are sent in express mode to an audience at the White House. But on the spot they are caught in the harsh reality. The incumbent president Janie Orleans (Meryl Streep) and her assistant (as well as her son – played by Jonah Hill) keep them at the office door for several hours. Meanwhile, Kate discovers that one of the government notables made her pay for free snacks from the kitchen, and she can’t stop thinking about it – just one of the first absurdities she will encounter.

Already during the meeting, it turns out that the president – a racial politician with a carefully made haircut and nails – is concerned that this information will have a bad impact on the polls and election results, rather than the fact that the Earth is threatened with destruction. And our scientists may work in a very good department of astronomy in Michigan, but they are not Harvard employees, so these are not very prestigious and immediately less reliable reports. So when the authorities do not want to do anything, scientists try to convey this information on a television program. It also ends with a disaster, because the hosts are more preoccupied with themselves and the heart dilemmas of a not-so-wise singer (this is played by the audience’s favorite, Ariana Grande) than with what their guests want to convey. Kate gets a hysterical attack on the air with consequences. She becomes the heroine of memes and internet jokes, which also destroys her credibility as a scientist and affects her private life.

So the whole movie is about the fact that people focused on such nonsense as the most popular trends on Twitter and Instagram. Politicians are hopeless because they succumb to billionaires who do not think for the good of the planet, but for their own pocket, and billionaires are dangerous because, blinded by the power that money gives them, they lose touch with reality and do not listen to anyone but themselves. And everyone should trust the scientists.

Still from the movie Don’t Look Up. Pictured: Jennifer Lawrence (Kate Dibiasky), Leonardo DiCaprio (Dr. Randall Mindy), and Rob Morgan (Dr. Clayton ‘Teddy’ Oglethorp) Fot. Niko Tavernise/Netflix

When does satire cease to be satire?

So I am not surprised that the production of so many critics gets on their nerves, although I myself do not feel offended that the film uses the obscenely talented and famous to tell us all that we are terribly stupid. I understand the accusation that such a serious message is flattened by comedy gags, but in my opinion the whole thing is still too drastically realistic in how it shows the mechanisms of modern politics and media. From the perspective of living in Poland, the viewer who watches the reality begin to show through what Stanisław Bareja served in his films, I do not feel particularly shocked or surprised. Plus, this movie is too focused on the USA itself, which is again the navel of the world here. And half an hour too long.

Apart from the gloomy realism of the script, I am genuinely infatuated with what the actors showed on the screen. It is worth watching the production, if only to see how the Hollywood titles have a great time and absolutely transform into their heroes. Leonardo DiCaprio as a somewhat crooked scientist in a corduroy jacket and a plaid shirt (we all know this type of academic teacher) looks a bit like David Ogrodnik’s twin from the “Rojst’97” series and shows his moments of nervous breakdown with full devotion. As always, the charismatic Jennifer Lawrence can take off the roller skates and get carried away when the scene requires it, sometimes showing that she has a distance to herself, and sometimes that she absolutely lacks him. Meryl Streep gives a sober and realistic picture of a politician in one person (although Miranda Pristley from “The Devil Wears Prada” was even scarier), and Jonah Hill falls out like a slightly more outspoken Bartłomiej Misiewicz or any other young PiS politician in a government position. The greatest delight in me, however, was Cate Blanchett, who plays here a classic American blonde journalist with white teeth so that she can blind them in the street. I didn’t recognize her at first, it took a few minutes to realize who I was seeing. In my opinion, she also got the most interesting character to build and had the most opportunity to prove herself.

As a person who likes to use social proof of rightness, I also looked at the Rotten Tomatoes website, where films can be judged by both critics and viewers. I should not be surprised that when most critics are disappointed with the new film by Adam McKay, the viewers have more sympathy for him and in relation to 55 percent. from journalists give production a higher rating – 77 percent. So I assume that you have the opportunity to have fun during the screening.