A meteor is coming to destroy Earth, and everyone in “Don’t Look Up” treats that fact like a minor annoyance. The 2021 comedy-drama, directed by Adam McKay and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, is meant to be a satire about political apathy and media distraction. It mostly fails to land its points while delivering some sharp jokes and a star turn from Lawrence.
The film opens with Dr. Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence) discovering a comet on a collision course with Earth. She and her colleague Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) warn the world, but their message gets lost in a media storm about celebrity, politics and a viral cat video. The U.S. president, played by Meryl Streep, barely pays attention. So does the public, which is more interested in a pop star named Winklevoss (played by Tyler Perry).
Trailer, via Netflix.
The Comet and the Cat
McKay builds his satire around the idea that people care more about trivial nonsense than about planetary extinction. That’s a clever premise, and the film spends its first hour building momentum through a series of escalating absurdities:
- A senator dismisses the warning as “space weather.”
- A TV host turns the discovery into a ratings stunt.
- A tech billionaire offers to buy the rights to the comet’s name.
The problem is that the satire never becomes pointed enough to sting. McKay piles on jokes about social media, celebrity culture and government incompetence, but the film rarely lets any of those jokes settle. It keeps moving forward, adding new targets and new characters, until the central threat starts to feel less like a comet and more like a plot device.
DiCaprio plays the straight man, grounding the chaos with a scientist who simply wants to save lives. Lawrence plays the comic foil, a frustrated researcher whose frustration fuels most of the movie’s humor. Their chemistry works, especially in scenes where they argue with each other about the best way to communicate the danger. Those scenes are the film’s strongest moments, because they treat the characters as actual people rather than caricatures.
Streep’s President and Perry’s Winklevoss
Streep is a highlight. Her president is a shallow, self-absorbed figure who cares more about her approval ratings than about the fate of humanity. Streep plays her with a cold detachment that makes the character genuinely frightening. The film’s weakest stretch comes when it shifts focus to Winklevoss, the pop star who becomes a global sensation despite being terrible at singing. Perry plays him as a cartoonish villain, and the film leans on his antics for laughs rather than substance.
The satire loses its edge in these scenes. Instead of making a point about cultural priorities, the film just becomes a vehicle for Perry to ham it up. It’s funny in a shallow way, but it doesn’t advance the story or deepen the themes. By the time the comet arrives, the film has spent so much time on Winklevoss that the stakes feel diluted.
The Message Gets Lost
The film’s central message is that people ignore serious threats because they’re distracted by trivial ones. That’s a valid point, but McKay never gives it room to breathe. The satire is constant, relentless and often repetitive, which means the film never lets the audience sit with the gravity of what’s happening.
There are moments where the film almost gets there. A scene where DiCaprio and Lawrence visit a school and find children too busy playing Fortnite to pay attention is genuinely unsettling. But those moments are rare, and they get buried under the next joke. The result is a film that feels frantic and breathless, which is probably the point, but it also makes the film exhausting to watch.
Lawrence Carries It
Jennifer Lawrence is the reason the film works at all. She commits fully to the role, playing Dibiasky as a woman who can’t understand why anyone is ignoring her. Her frustration is real, and it carries the emotional weight of the film. DiCaprio is solid as usual, but he’s playing a type he’s done many times before. The supporting cast, including Streep and Timothée Chalamet as a young astronomer, rounds out the ensemble, but none of them get the chance to break through the film’s surface-level gags.
The film’s ending tries to tie everything together, but it lands with a thud. After the comet hits, the survivors gather in a refugee camp and sing a song about hope. It’s a hollow note, and it leaves the film feeling unfinished. The satire hasn’t been resolved, and the characters haven’t been changed. They’ve just survived.
Where It Falls Short
“Don’t Look Up” is ambitious, and it has moments of genuine insight. But it’s also a mess, weighed down by too many characters, too many jokes and too little discipline. The satire is blunt where it should be sharp, and the tone is uneven, shifting from broad comedy to grim disaster without ever finding a consistent register.
The film’s strengths are its performances and its premise. Its weaknesses are its execution and its timing. It’s a film that could have been great, but it’s not. It’s a missed opportunity, and it’s frustrating to watch.
The Final Score
“Don’t Look Up” is a flawed film with a few bright spots. Lawrence deserves credit for carrying a script that doesn’t always support her. The film’s premise is strong, but the satire is too scattered to land its punches. It’s a film that tries to say something important, but it says it so loudly that the message gets drowned out.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
