Movie Thoughts: Don’t Look Up

Bloated. That’s what this movie is. The plot, the cast and everything else. It feels like a bunch of better movies strung together. I didn’t laugh once. I can hear people going, “You weren’t supposed to.” Yeah, I was. It’s a comedy.

It’s the opposite of The Trial of the Chicago 7 — the first movie I’ve seen in a theater that I wish I would’ve just watched on Netflix. Overall this was a big let down for me. It’s another example of a great two-sentence premise that didn’t pan out when stretched to full runtime.

Don’t Look Up’s main problem is that it thinks it’s better than it is, and there’s nothing worse than an A-list production that thinks it’s better than it is. It assumes the authority to lecture everyone on its superior opinions, but nowadays no one wants to hear what millionaires have to say even (especially?) if they’re right.

The first scenes take place in an astronomy lab. They’re interesting and well done. The movie feels like a movie. Then once the comet is discovered everything slowly descends into preachy disorder. There are frenetic, random, quick little stock footage clips of babies and landscapes and other shit flying by, inserted at random times. Running jokes (general made us pay for snacks hee hee) never pay off. Put simply, the movie tries too hard.

The thing can’t decide if it’s an Anchorman/Other Guys absurdity or a serious Big Short/Vice satire. It’s no Dr. Strangelove. That was wickedly intelligent but didn’t marinate in its own intelligence and blatantly…