Don't Look Up (2021) User Reviews

Someone made a meme movie out of the US

[joaosantos20 · 7/10 · 28 December 2021]

And boy is it funny, because it's true. But it's also sad because it's true.

Its got an idiot president, idiot media, idiot citizens and some very few smart people that must fell like they ended up in the planet of the apes. Its really accurate, scary accurate.

Yes, this is Earth and humanity now

[gy-att · 7/10 · 25 December 2021]

I am pretty sure once we go down we are going to go down like this. The way nowadays social media Earth is going on now and the way we handle Covid this is exactly how we are going to finish our lives on this planet. This is not a fiction, this is a documentary.

Political satire at its best.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 24 December 2021]

Spoiler free review.

I wasn't exactly gripped by the plot, but the cast, yes please, this film boasts one impressive line up.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, it managed to mix up subtlety with brashness incredibly well, it pokes fun at modern cultures, celebrity and the absurdities of social media.

I spoke to a few people that found it rather funny, I can't say I was amused, but I certainly was entertained. The absurdity amused me, I pondered if some events would happen if the world did actually face disaster. The rich getting richer in the face of disaster.....

Merryl Street as always was first class, but for me the standout had to be Di Caprio, he was terrific throughout, that scene where he blows his top, incredible.

Thoroughly enjoyable, 8/10.

Hits a Little Too Close to Home

[witster18 · 7/10 · 25 December 2021]

"Don't Look Up" will divide audiences for a myriad of reasons, but personally, I found this to be a brilliant satire about the state of growing misinformation and the dangerous hypocrisies of this digital age.

It's chock full of unpleasant characters and unpleasant situations, and viewers need to go-into all of it with a coarse grain of salt. I suspect many detractors of the film might be those easily persuaded by misinformation, and those, who themselves, like to ignore science and tend-to grasp onto these social life-jackets - instead of heeding the poignant and important meaning of the film - they will focus on all the negatives.

The film is completely absurd, and it's supposed to be. The style, cast and absurdity just work together harmoniously. Everything about this ridiculous movie is probably not as far removed from reality as one might think. It is over-stylized, no doubt, but it's Running Man, Hunger Games, Total Recall disinformation-vibe rings true in today's world, and far sooner than many suspected. It's like Miracle Mile, Back to the Future 2, Deep Impact and This is the End, had a coma baby birthed-in the somber realities and fact-checks of Bright Lights Big City.

It's not perfect. The film would have benefitted from more family development, and a better soundtrack, but any low scores can be dismissed as those who took political offense and missed the point. Cast attacks can be dismissed as well - it's comedy not a drama. Don't expect The Color Purple or Bridges of Madison County here.

Good movie. Will surely find a top 25 spot for 2021. Love the extended credits. The film is clever and, imo, an important film.

A really good movie, yet painful to watch

[siderite · 9/10 · 1 January 2022]

I understand why some people hate this film. It feels real in its entirety, it shows you how stupid and insignificant we are and it is extremely apropos today. Also, it was marketed as a comedy, when in fact is a dramatic film that is humorous only in its accurate portrayal of humanity. Then again some people try to "tell you" what it is about and, while it is certainly metaphoric, it isn't about anything more specific than ourselves. It is a mirror. Some people don't like what they see in it.

I found it an almost perfect film, with some deliciously carefully crafted moments and great acting. At first I thought the comedic side was actually too much and wished that someone like Steven Soderbergh made the movie instead, but as I was watching it I started to appreciate how methodical the approach was and now I believe Adam McKay was the right man for the job. I enjoyed the overall plot, I liked the characters and how things were presented, but I loved the little things like, for example, the only scene where Europe is mentioned, as a short scene of a news item when they say they are going to convene and find their own solution, resulting in absolutely nothing. I am European and sad to say it struck home. Or the meal scene at the end, which is both emotional, focusing and reminding us how even that option can be taken away by something as small as a virus.

Annoyingly, in these days movies from the U. S. are becoming more and more of "a color". They are not telling a story, but are taking a side. They are either democrat or republican, conservative or liberal, blue or red, flyover or coast. Don't Look Up is not a big offender, but the language and presentation was clearly on the "coast" side. Thus, it will be probably appreciated by people who already saw the world this way and ignored or at best maligned by the people on the other side. And it's a pity, because this film is meant to bring us together as a civilization and not keep us divided. I feel like it could have done a better job in that direction.

There was one detail that I think McKay got completely wrong. There is no chance in hell the president of the United States would make a public speech and use metric units like kilometers in it. If it weren't for that, I would have rated this 10 stars. Jokes aside, this is a movie you have to watch.

Well-placed jabs at the society and world today...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 29 December 2021]

Initially then I wasn't really overly hooked on watching the 2021 movie "Don't Look Up" since I wasn't really won over by the movie's synopsis. Granted, I hadn't checked out the movie's trailer, so I wasn't really sure what I would be in for here. But as friends started to praise the movie, I opted to sit down and watch it.

Now, one friend said that "Don't Look Up" was a masterpiece. Well, I wouldn't go as far as to calling it a masterpiece. Sure, "Don't Look Up" was a watchable movie, and writers Adam McKay and David Sirota definitely had some good jabs at the crazy world we live in today, with the likes of a crazy president, everything being on social media, people being concerned about riches even when facing extinction and such. I found the movie to be watchable and enjoyable, sure, but it wasn't a masterpiece, nor will it become a classic movie for me.

The comedy used in "Don't Look Up", as written by Adam McKay and David Sirota wasn't really something that had me laughing. Sure, I could see the jabs at society and the ridiculing of certain aspects of the society and world we live in today, but it didn't make me laugh.

Running at 2 hours and 18 minutes, the movie feels a bit long, to be bluntly honest.

What works for "Don't Look Up" is the cast, as it has a handful of great names on the list, with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and so forth.

There is a good production value to the movie, and you are definitely in good hands throughout the course of the movie, in every aspects actually, from visual CGI effects, to storytelling, to camera work, acting performances, etc.

Sadly, then I wouldn't exactly say that "Don't Look Up" is a movie that sustains more than a single viewing, as the contents to the storyline just doesn't really seem solid enough for more than a single viewing. So I highly doubt that I will ever return to watch director Adam McKay's 2021 movie again.

My rating of "Don't Look Up" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Funny and chillingly accurate and plausible

[grantss · 8/10 · 28 December 2021]

Two astronomers discover a massive comet heading towards Earth. The comet will wipe out mankind in six months' time if nothing is done about it. They manage to gain an audience with the US President, land on TV talk shows and have their story printed in the media but everyone seems to have other priorities.

On the surface a disaster movie in the vein of Armageddon or Deep Impact. However, it is not just that and is far better than that.

Written and directed by Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice, The Other Guys, Anchorman), Don't Look Up is a funny, accurate examination of the warped priorities and agendas of the people who have the largest control over our lives. Politicians care more about how something will impact their polling numbers than saving mankind, the media cares more about finding something slanderous on a person than alerting people to imminent destruction, talk shows care more about sensationalism, the personal lives of vapid pop stars and on putting on a happy face than on news that actually matters to people, corporate opportunists who use even a planet-destroying disaster to make a profit and in so doing increase the danger (and how the politicians fall in line behind them).

It is all quite chillingly accurate and plausible: from experience you can relate to the misguided, self-absorbed agendas of these institutions and individuals and the powerlessness and irritation you feel in having to deal with them and their decisions.

It is so close to home that it sometimes makes the film irritating to watch: you'd rather not be reminded how incompetent, superficial, self-servicing and nefarious the government, media etc are, how they screw up your life on a regular basis and how likely it is that they will eventually wipe out mankind.

All this makes for a film that is one part hilariously funny and another part scarily serious and confronting. Unlike some other movies I did not find this mix of comedy and drama jarring. In fact, the humour helps point out the absurdity of it all.

By the way, keep watching until the very end. There's two scenes woven into/after the credits that are worth sticking around for.

A great drama with a spice of comedy on the side

[darapjohnson · 6/10 · 21 October 2022]

A movie that about shows what would happen and how humanity would react if a huge meteor was threatening to destroy the Earth and humanity (the comedy aside). Both a funny but also tragic movie towards the end. It hits deeper considering how realistic this was (taking away the small unrealistic parts). I enjoyed this but in my personal opinion, they could've removed the comedy and just made it full on drama and it would've hit much harder than it did with the comedy.

The cast was great and the plot was intriguing. I, like many, do not get the hate for this movie at all. I personally think it was enjoyable. But I guess everyone just has their own opinions at the end of the day and that's fair but i would've rated it higher if they removed the comedy completely.

Disturbingly appropriate to the world today

[summergrant · 8/10 · 28 December 2021]

Leonardo DiCaprio - flawless and channelling his inner Leonard Hofstadter.

Jennifer Lawrence - also flawless. Didn't realise how much I missed watching her in films.

Everyone else - all amazing, all did a brilliant job.

The writing was spot on, though the theme was pretty dark the comedic moments came in at the right time. There were some parts where it dragged a little but it soon picked back up. There were nice little nuances throughout that captured each character.

With such a big cast of absolute talent it felt like there was a danger the film wouldn't find the balance for all their stories, but it does and just shows the skill of the director and editors.

A poignant look at what our reactions might be to such a disaster, indeed what our reactions are right now when faced with a choice between believing scientific facts and verbal garbage from political blowhards and tech giant psychos who have no idea what they're doing.

Satire at its best.

Once the credits hit make sure you hang around. There's a clip near the start of them and one right at the end.

All of the movie to one side, this three dialogue alone to one side

[NINJA_11 · 7/10 · 29 December 2022]

The most beautiful, most important and accurate sentence that I have heard so far among all the movies I have seen:

Dr. Oglethorpe (Teddy) : "And is this nanotech work peer-reviewed?"

Dr. Randall Mindy : "Well, I haven't reviewed the data, but it's been modeled."

Kate Dibiasky : "Has any of this been peer-reviewed?"

Dr. Randall Mindy : "Nope"

PS : If our people can only understand the meaning of this sentence, the amount of belief in superstitions and pseudoscience in our society will decrease drastically.

Note: Until people are familiar with the way the human brain works, fallacies, scientific method and critical thinking, we should not hope to destroy stupidity in society.

Trashy Oscar Fluff

[Leonickove · 2/10 · 15 February 2022]

How on earth this got nominated, i have no clue..

First of all, it is tediously long to get though at 2 hour 20 minutes of run time.

Then it begins with borderline amusement but then you keep hoping there is something interesting that might happen next but then it just goes on and on from one unfunny scene to another and you hope it ends as soon as possible.

How is this satire even considered funny?

And Jonah Hill is annoying as all hell.

a reality check

[saru2020 · 6/10 · 6 November 2022]

A movie that almost perfectly states the reality of the current world with loads of stupidity that we all live in.

If there comes a doomsday for real, humans would also/still become extinct just like how dinosaurs did and that's a shame for the human intelligence that has evolved for so many centuries.

This film is more like a reality check of the current world we live in.

His casual act DiCaprio makes him stand out from other actors' performances.

But, the film is not that much interesting and doesn't keep you hooked till the end & all, that's the problem with it.

Yet, there could've been a lot of improvements done with some twists & turns with a better screenplay and the movie might've come out decently enough.

Overall, it's a one-time watch that gives you a reality check.

honestly...

[ops-52535 · 10/10 · 25 December 2021]

Spoken by a grumpy old man sitting on the edge of the grave, this was some of the awesomest hilarious cataclysmic armagheddonishly knitwoven colash of witt and comedy , and frustratingly hitting the truth with a reflectortelescopicaly astrosurgeons inscicion of dead and meat politicians, that on daily basis never tells much truth...

neither does this film, and thank god for that because its just a brilliant build up without the god and glory precursors that has ridden us in every movie made over the topic earth no more...

in fact its a ''if i live to tell'' story that has given us a new face of leonardo dicaprio, his canonade in the tv-studio is just marvelous and really reaching out for an oscar, as well as ms jennifer, they are really doing the chariots of fire in this forever and ever ending bang.

So therefore, tired and sleep fatigued after a 10 hour nightshift at the nursing home on a stomatomata stummy full of porkrib x-mas dinner before leaving the presents and my pleasants, on a high that is so high , its just a spasmodic recommend.

Brevity is the soul of wit

[gsmalz504 · 6/10 · 27 October 2022]

Someone once said and it's a lesson this movie should have taken to heart. It's a black comedy that doesn't go dark enough and it's just soooooooooo loooooooooong. I'm a firm believer that for a comedy film to hit it needs to compact-anything over 90 minutes is too long and you're straying into dramedy territory. And you can't be too earnest which I think this film also suffers from-there's a gravity lurking below each performance and it's distracting. Great cast though and appreciate the attempt to draw attention the greenhouse effect as it's a serious issue-albeit one we should have addressed decades ago.

Is Science Science Fiction?

[whernstadt · 7/10 · 24 December 2021]

As a person who attended a scientific college, this started to look interesting, but when elected officials got involved went south. Acting excellent and better than similar sci-fi film of 30 years ago, the failings of officials is not very humorous these days. Part funny, part scary but worth a Netflix watch.

Quality of the film is entirely irrelevant

[gowertours · 10/10 · 26 December 2021]

Excellent, gripping, watchable, boring or rubbish. All of the above apply depending on your perspective. None of them matter.

We not watching this movie, we're all IN IT!!

Whether it's a comet or climate change or nuclear war or anything else, we're all being led to the edge of the cliff, by entrenched invested elites in every country in the world whose wild versions of the truth are multiplied to the power of n by individuals equally invested in their own micro beliefs on social media pedalling at best fake information and at worst outlandish conspiracies.

The rest of the sane world which is probably the vast majority feels powerless to respond as we walk inexorably towards that cliff led by our elites and with the escape route to the rear blocked by the insanity of the keyboard warriors on social media.

56% on rotten tomatoes. Wake up and smell the coffee. It's a no brainer 100% because it's the subject of the movie that's all important.

Forget best actor, Director, cgi, sound or costumes or whether you liked it or not, just wake up and judge it on its message.

Don't Look Up - Could have been better.

[Biwoks · 6/10 · 20 January 2023]

Written and directed by Academy Award winner Adam McKay (The Big Short), Don't Look Up is the much talked about comedy from the stellar cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett) which tells the story of two humble astronomers who find involved in a huge media tour with the intention of warning humanity of a grave danger: the approach of a comet on a collision course with the Earth.

Since its release, the film has severely divided audiences in two, receiving as much praise as it has dissensions. It is clear that McKay intended to make the audience reflect - on climate change and the need to act as soon as possible to preserve our planet - by telling a plausible story that leads to the extreme ridiculousness of the actions of the characters and the evolution of the story. But the ridiculous-parodic element, which inevitably arouses bitter laughter in the viewer, fails to balance itself perfectly with the drama of the plot. So, despite the spectacular cast and worthy morals, overall Don't Look Up fails to withstand the high expectations that are created at the beginning of the vision, concluding with an ending that does not honor the director's noble intent.

I laughed. I cried. I loved it.

[Her-Excellency · 9/10 · 12 December 2021]

This film is yet another reminder to me of how very little 'critic's' "opinions" ought to matter, or are actually worth, in terms of steering anyone toward second-guessing their viewing choices.

Don't Look Up starts out just a bit slowly, but it surprisingly grows and develops into a richly poignant picture of humanity in all its hilarity and horribleness.

It is so good, I laughed, I cried, I loved it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Months later, I still think about it sometimes, too.

There are times when I am sitting in my living room watching as my husband furrows his brow when listening to an interesting news story; when the mailman waves as he drives away; when our 156 lb. Cane Corso waddles over to me; when I use my iPhone to turn our lights on and off; while I click "purchase" on that online site which will now send me a pair of high-heel pink Manolo Blahniks; when I savor the rich caramel in my Caramel Macchiato; as I am taking the turkey, which gave its life so that I can celebrate with family, out of the oven ... Don't Look Up comes to mind, because WE REALLY DO HAVE IT ALL.

Worth a look up

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 13 February 2023]

The biggest appeal for me was the cast, having enjoyed the work of Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Mark Rylance elsewhere. Another big selling point was Adam McKay as director, having liked enormously 'Vice' and especially 'The Big Short'. The subject matter left me a bit mixed, it was intriguing and part of me admired it satirising relevant serious themes, but part of me was also worrying how they would be executed.

'Don't Look Up' was a bit of a mixed bag and not an easy film to rate and review, certainly liked it more than my parents did while being after viewing very unsure as to what my overall feelings were. There is quite a lot to enjoy, most of the performances are fine and really did appreciate what it tried to do. But at the same time the execution of many of its elements was very uneven (with nothing being disastrous) and it would have benefitted from trying to do less. Can totally understand the mixed reviews and the reasons on both sides.

By all means, a lot is done well. Lawrence and DiCaprio are very engaging in the lead roles and have the most interesting and well-rounded characters (with DiCaprio having the toughest role). The supporting cast on the whole are enormous fun, Streep, Blanchett and Jonah Hill enjoy themselves enormously and are all very amusing. McKay directs assuredly on the whole.

It looks great and very polished, especially the editing which has a nice amount of flash while not being too much. The music has a good deal of character and energy and fits with the broad tone. There are a lot of very amusing moments and sharp, cutting dialogue and while the themes and issues here are executed in a way that is not very insightful and reinforces what most know already what is said is suitably uncomfortable in how relevant and truthful everything said is.

Having said all of that, Don't Look Up' is easy to criticise. To me, the story is over-stuffed and does too little with too many subplots, a couple like Mindy's family subplot adding nothing. The film could have been tighter in pace, with it taking a while to get going and the final act especially suffering from the bloated feel.

Some of the satire doesn't quite come off, with a lot of what is satirised being executed very heavy handedly and smugly as well as too surface level. It also works much better when it's straightforward and not broad, all the amusing moments are when the former approach is taken while the heavy handedness and exaggeration come from when the film goes the broad route. There is a casting disappointment and that is Rylance, absolutely love him as an actor but here his performance is just bizarre and actually rather annoying. Bizarre is a word to describe the very end too and saw absolutely no point to it.

Overall, interesting but an odd mixed bag that is going to divide opinions and has done. 6/10.

Great plot and potential but a let down

[ashleylaguna-92856 · 4/10 · 11 February 2023]

Seriously a let down for me. The plot is great and I love a good dark comedy but the direction was so bad.

Main problem was the flow, editing, and direction of the movie. Felt slow at times, rushed at others, scenes flew past your head, weird pointless transitions with stock looking footage, and amazing actors with decent lines that just fell flat.

I would have loved to say this movie was great because I think the idea of it was genius. Great satire. But it all just came together horrendously. Ariana grandes character was really badly written as well. The ending was sweet, though, and the movie had a lot of heart. Wish it could have been something greater.

irony. and something more

[Kirpianuscus · 7 January 2022]

Bitter irony, realistic - maybe too -, portrait of reactions defining near reality, splendid cast and seductive acting. In few cases - Leonardo di Caprio is the obvious example - performance as manifesto. In others - parody of old roles or Saturday Night Live - Ron Perlman or Meryl Streep.

A sort of wake up, not original, far to be new, giving, maybe, not the reflection of a mirror but a provocative invitation to define your opinions. The best part - the last, reminding the importance of family and friends and giving truth to a prediction .

Tries hard and you can't try hard to be funny

[secondtake · 6/10 · 8 January 2022]

Don't Look Up (2021)

The mixture of comic cynicism, witty one liners, and a lot of trying too hard to be funny makes this a strange movie to like. It's obviously aware of how it wants to be likeable (and this wordy description is on purpose). Self-aware movies require insight, and intelligence, even if they attempt to hide it.

But here you kind of just go for the ride, and enjoy bits and pieces along the way. Which isn't so terrible, except that you are thinking all the time how good it actually could have been. The ostenstible plot event-the comet-is workable, but the real point is the range of political excesses along the way. Yes, it reacts to the world as we know it in 2020, and we laugh a little at the rejection of science when the science is so obvious, and at the incompetance of the presidency, but it's not really as funny as it might seem on paper.

Great cast. Enjoyed Tyler Perry with Cate Blanchett. Leonardo DiCaprio was fine if a bit uninspired.

Best advice-don't expect too much and you'll enjoy it!

I bet many people here are looking down

[jorgesosadiaz · 10/10 · 30 July 2023]

This movie is not about science, not even about a meteorite, is about the lack of thinking, our diminishing capacity to establish priorities, our almost null ability to keep on focus, our search for form rather than substance, all which lead to the inevitable.

Information and connection has brought a paradox in which as we have more it becomes harder to make us conscious about what matters.

What is most interesting about this movie is that portraits human nature in such a way of such naiveness that many people who watched will be saying is not real and is fake political propaganda. To them i just say, LOOK UP!

It's the End of the World as We Know It

[nikitalinivenko · 6/10 · 13 December 2022]

Adam McKay's dark comedy serves as both thinly-veiled allegory for climate change, and, perhaps unintentionally, as a nice middle finger to '90's comet-hurtling-towards-the-earth disaster-video garbage like Deep Impact and Armageddon (or pretentiously bland 2000's arthouse installations like Melancholia).

Dicaprio, being Dicaprio, and Jennifer Lawrence (actually good here! Normally I can't stand her, but I actually kinda liked her here!) are two "physicists" (in the unrealistic hot Hollywood sorta way) who spot a comet. Hurtling towards the earth. Which no one takes seriously. Caricature President Meryl Streep (having a blast as a Trumpian Sarah Palin) dismisses them, then begrudgingly accepts the situation, half-assedly makes an attempt to fire the rockets before backtracking instantly for capitalistic purposes, and goes back to her denial, there's-no-problem-here routine. Jonah Hill, being Jonah Hill, bumbles around as her son/secretary of state (stick around for the droll post-credit sequence). Mark Rylance, the best part of the movie, as a high-functioning autistic Steve Jobs brought it all together with some of the funniest gags.

Though nowhere near The Big Short or Vice in this era of the "new", improved, more serious Adam McKay, Don't Look Up is still a far cry above the director's abysmally horrid, cheaply unfunny 2000's output where he was essentially aping those awful Judd Apatow "comedies" that dominated the era. As of now - for me - Don't Look Up sits at a decent third place amongst McKay's inconsistent, mixed-bag filmography. Not bad, not great, a slight, pleasantly-mid end-of-the-world dark comedy that's, at the very least, more decent than most Netflix-distributed content.

They Nailed Our Downfall Down to Every Detail

[98Dawg · 10/10 · 14 January 2024]

We really do have it all. I watched it twice and find it disturbing, tragic, stressful, and all too real.

This society we've somehow created will be our undoing and this movie hits every theme - the corrupting influence of money in politics, the political access and influence afforded the wealthy and powerful, the dismissal and devaluing of science and subject matter expertise, social media disinformation, the dumbing down of the population and lack of basic knowledge, the power of the media, and worst of all, the severe polarization and partisanship of the populace, blindly believing false information from their own "trusted source" of news and information, to their own detriment.

It makes me sad, because it's so true. Objectivity and the pursuit of truth are dying out in favor of partisan driven agendas. This is us and our partisanship at all costs will be our undoing, it's inevitable. This movie nails it.