Don’t Look Up is perhaps the biggest mixed bag of the entire year.
Firstly, I think everyone in the movie delivers a strong and memorable performance. Leonardo DiCaprio is, of course, fully invested in giving 100% of his effort in every role he’s in — and this is no exception. Jonah Hill, too, is absolutely hysterical, as I found myself laughing more from his deliveries than any other actor in the film.
However, I do also think this film runs far too long, given what the source material has to offer. There’s a lot of awkward scenes and seemingly arbitrary subplots that I feel didn’t need to exist at all, and ultimately only served to drag the film down as a whole.
Furthermore, there’s quite a few jokes in here that feel blatantly on-the-nose and completely devoid of any comedic nuance or ingenuity. Political jokes generally don’t bother me, so long as they’re executed in a fashion that incorporates some sort of creativity into its comedy. This film fails to even try. More often than not, it seems as if their primary and sole intention was to outright attack groups of people that they disagree with, rather than trying to construct some sort of clever satirical jab. It’s lazy writing that prioritizes anger over intelligence.
Overall, I think this movie had a lot of potential to be something special. But unfortunately, subpar writing (both on a structural and political level) prevented it from being as such. At times, it feels closer to a bad SNL sketch than a smart satirical farce. The highlights are definitely the performances, but beyond that, there isn’t much to offer.
Comments