A star-studded Don’t Look Up cast drives home the message: we stand divided
Given the nature of the film, Don’t Look Up couldn’t have come out at a better time. After two years of a pandemic, the over-normalization of ‘fake news’, and the Capitol Riot, people are divisive, jaded, and — most of all — fear fatigued. This film isn’t there to give you a happy ending, just sprinkle in moments of hope. We can’t afford hope for more than a moment, it seems.
The film has a painfully easy-to-follow plot. It’s hard to say whether that’s attributed to the skills of McKay as the director and writer, or if the imagery within the satire is so familiar that viewers scarcely need to struggle to see the satire’s intent. President Orlean and her son are evident stand-ins for Donald Trump, which may indeed have been the intent during the writing process. However, having witnessed the world’s response to the Taliban takeover, it’s not difficult to see a bit of incumbent US President Joe Biden and the policy of appeasement and power-through-pain within them as well.
BASH and its CEO fill the shoes of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos so well it seemed almost disappointing when they themselves didn’t get on the rocket. But, “of course, [they] had a ship”. The masses are misguided and misinformed. The manner in which politicians adjust stances, betray their party members, let money rule the day… well, it doesn’t take much suspension of disbelief to go along with it.
Dr. Mindy stands in for the well-intentioned man who can easily lose himself to the temptations of success and fame on the road to righteousness, while Kate is the screaming voice of the masses. The ones of us who don’t know what’s going to happen. The more we know, the less we can act.
To those that can see the asteroid as a metaphor for climate change, Covid-19, global war, or any of the other issues that bring an end to our times, she really captures the anxiety of our helplessness well. The brief moments of relief she finds in the new boyfriend and reunion with Dr. Mindy come not from a need for connection nor a deep earnestness of character. It comes from a “why not”. The earth does feel doomed, and a lot of our decisions in the interim of existence boil down to a “why not”. Make the most of the time you have. Someone with more money and power than you seems to be making the decisions on this.
The dark humor across the film is rather strange. The stakes, even in this sci-fi-like setting, are too real to land with the same lightness as Marvel films. This movie isn’t tonally consistent. It’s sometimes like an extended SNL sketch. It certainly doesn’t look like the film will win an Oscar. But then, it’s not here for the high-brow viewer. Anyone who even has a cursory understanding of American politics, would find it hilarious. And sad.
This is why the ending rings so bittersweet. The world is over. The rich still found a way out. People are literally shooting at the sky. And our leads? Well, they’re having a family dinner. They’re holding hands and praying, even though everyone’s smart enough to be hopeless. It’s just a moment before nothing matters. It’s when the “diet” ends. And Kate brings us home long before the asteroid hits: “I’m grateful we tried”.
