Don't Look Up (Adam McKay) [Netflix]

Manic Moran · 29-12-2021 6:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118384971#Comment_118384971

A fine statement…. Sadly did not apply to this movie. Hardly Team America which both camps laughed at, and laughed a lot at. And if wanted to nitpick, I would say something like the “where do we sit” scene on the transport was manufactured. C-5s have a ladder upstairs to 75 or so airliner seats. That wasn’t my issue with the movie,though.

Wife decided to cue it up for one of our extremely rare movie watching nights, and I figured good cast, seems popular, why not? Serves me right for not reading reviews. It’s a 90minute film that they managed to squeeze into nearly two and a half hours. After watching, I looked up reviews to see what the big deal was, and one review put it perfectly when it said you have to force yourself to watch it to the end.

Were there some good bits? Yes. Mainly at the beginning. Few and far between after that. The movie was as subtle in its allegories as a blow with a twelve pound fine adjusting tool, and I’m sorry, I have more intelligence than that. So does the wife. It is possible to be hilariously satirical about politics or government without being dumb. Yes Minister would be a great example of that. It made some points (which likely are only going to either sway nobody or confirm pre-held beliefs), but belabored them immensely. It’s not that you can’t have “dumb” sociological commentary, Idiocracy was great, but that also didn’t try to take itself anywhere near as seriously as “don’t look up” does, DLU is neither fish nor fowl.

Jason needed to be deleted, he served no point at all. The character was so over the top as to be entirely unfunny, insofar as he played any point at all to move scenes along it could have been done just as well by a “straight” character. Again, he insulted our intelligence. I have a similar problem with “Space Force”, in a series where we are supposed to relate to intelligent, reasonable people, farcical plot points or characterizations kill it.

My recommendation, don’t waste your evening on this movie. If you fly intercontinental a lot (I do) and there’s nothing more appealing on the in flight entertainment to pass the time while you are stuck there, it’s worth the watch.

Akrasia · 29-12-2021 11:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118382851#Comment_118382851

The only way to get Conservative trump voters to watch this movie would be to make it so subtle that they would completely miss the point of the movie thereby defeating its entire purpose

Fysh · 29-12-2021 2:15pm

I got half an hour into this and decided to bail on it there. It's not that it's bad, necessarily, but it's not what I was hoping for - what I saw was very much broad parody in the Scary Movie vein rather than the sharper satire I was hoping for, with a baggy, unrefined feel like a series of SNL sketches strung together. A lot of that is down to my taste in comedies, though.

The couple of jokes that had promise got over-explained in a way that, for me, neutered them - e.g. the bit with the General collecting money for the snacks, or the thing about Jonah Hill's character being a nepotism appointment. In both cases I thought they would have worked better by letting the audience make the connection, rather than spelling it out.

I'm a bit disappointed that it landed poorly enough for me to bail on it - the setup has a lot of potential. Johnny_ultimate mentioned Shin-Godzilla upthread which is a useful comparison for the kind of comedy-of-bureaucracies DLU could have been. Eye In The Sky also comes to mind. I don't think that's the kind of film McKay was trying to make, though.

Manic Moran · 29-12-2021 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118377288#Comment_118377288

I'll leave aside your statement that Dr Strangelove was pretty crap. I'm not sure that's the common consensus, but it's an opinion. Much as I didn't think DLU was great and others seem to.

However, I would think that the reason it is still talked about 50 years later isn't because it's a great movie in itself but because (and I realise it is a bit tautological) it is such a memorable movie, both in dialogue and visuals. Kong riding the bomb waving his cowboy hat. The War Room and the Big Board (Note you can't fight in there, it's the war room). Kong's inspection checklist was well enough regarded that Spielberg had Pickens re-enact it 15 years later in one of his own movies. What are the lines in DLU which people will be quoting at each other thirty years from now? What is an iconic image as unique as DrS can provide? Even the lighting of Dr S was used to good memorable effect. Even today people with access to missiles and bombs will climb up on them and take photos reenacting Kong. Is anyone going to ever reenact anything from DLU?

As for mistakes that DLU made but DrS didn't, DrS was consistent. With the one exception of Ripper, who was insane and thus can be excused, everyone in the movie is acting within some bounds of believability and rationality. The situation they are in is farcical, the characters less so thus keeping an equal tone in the movie.

The White Wolf · 29-12-2021 3:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118384360#Comment_118384360

Yeah...we would hope the world would unite before it was too late. I think that's one of the main points of the film.

Akrasia · 29-12-2021 4:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118386586#Comment_118386586

Given the failure of COP26 to agree sufficient measures to keep warming below 2c pretty much proves that the current state of global politics would not be capable of agreeing, financing and implementing the necessary action to save us from disaster.

We are not doing enough to combat climate change, and even with the pandemic, world leaders are playing Russian roulette, making self serving decisions and politicising the pandemic

patnor1011 · 30-12-2021 2:20pm

I do not think it is healthy to bring or see climate change everywhere. Climate activists needs to take a break and stop trying to insert their views or points in everything.

Asteroid that size coming to hit us is hardly "climate change" and despite our advances in various fields there is not much we can do about it anyway.

sydthebeat · 30-12-2021 2:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391160#Comment_118391160

Lolllllll

Not at all surprised to see a regular "conspiracy theory" poster post the above crap.

Who are we blaming today? Satan? The commies? The rothchilds?? Schwab??

It's a movie with a ridiculously blunt message.... Congrats on it going straight over your head

johnny_ultimate · 30-12-2021 2:27pm

The creators of the film have explicitly stated it’s about climate change, not that the film itself leaves any room for doubt or ambiguity.

https://twitter.com/ghostpanther/status/1476269416123830280?s=21

speedboatchase · 30-12-2021 2:37pm

I remember seeing a great remark recently that Adam McKay makes movies that "make dumb people feel smart". I'll leave it at that.

silverharp · 31-12-2021 11:05am

ha ha

https://twitter.com/ahardtospell/status/1476392008239484931

TheValeyard · 31-12-2021 11:09am

I tried to like it but gave up 3/4 way through. I'll finish off at some stage but just disappointed by such a sterling cast and interesting concept, it just didnt work. Maybe because the night before I watched 'The Big Short' and that was brilliant and I am unfairly comparing the two.

mary 2021 · 31-12-2021 3:47pm

Loved Meryl Streeps ultimate fate thats what she gets for supporting Weinstein a nice bit of justice even though its fake !!

|As with most movies today it was a load of lefty bollox probably made up from a joke in a Xmas cracker at a dinner with lots of dobies & chablis and lefty hollyweird types. They do love themselves and their causes as long as the causes dont live near them or touch them in reality . Virtue signallers the lot of them and a very crap movie, whats good about netflix is you can see a movie in 10 minutes and move on the shite bits !!

DavyD_83 · 31-12-2021 6:21pm

Everything I have read about this, without seeing any spoilers or detailed plot, keeps reminding me of hearing people talk about American Hustle. Amazing ensemble cast, hilarious, so insightful, yada yada...; or just not funny, boring, waste of talent, depending who you listen to.

But, I hated American Hustle, although it now just seems unmemorable, for me all the jokes and performance were entirely forced and just felt like everybody was so aware of how great the cast including themselves were, so it must be amazing. I think I'm still in the minority on that one, but suspect I will feel the same about this if I ever get around to seeing it (ie. if my wife puts it on; she has already heard it is amazing from somebody she trusts).

Also, I never found Anchor Man or a lot of Will Ferrell's "My voice is funny, so this is funny" films/schtick, I always thought that was down to Ferrell, but have discovered what I feel are his worst cases of this were all co-written with McKay, so suspect McKay is not for me either.

kyote00 · 31-12-2021 6:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118373001#Comment_118373001

You need to watch it past the credits as one of the cockroaches survives

banie01 · 31-12-2021 6:25pm

Really enjoyed it, it's exactly what it says on the tin.

Whilst it's satire, it's certainly not subtle. I think even at that, it's telling that much of the core message of the movie seems to be flying over the head of many stateside and MAGA's in particular.

Table Top Joe · 31-12-2021 7:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118395216#Comment_118395216

Someone made an interesting point (cant remember where or who) about how "The Big Short" worked and "Don't Look Up" didn't (for some of us anyway). "The big Short" talks down to its audience, treats us like we're a bit thick, but the thing is it was entirely justified since most people (myself included I might add) haven't a clue about the stock market, short selling, sub prime loans etc.....

"Don't look Up" has this same approach, but the problem is it's preaching, and lecturing and very heavy handily explaining stuff that anyone with half a brain already knows. On top of that, it isn't anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is (or funny)

The smugness around this movie from the producers and some of the fans of this movie have been nauseating, "if you don't like it, you don't get it".....they don't seem to understand that people do get it, we just didn't think it was very good.

I find the fawning over the writers and actors of this piece of crap a far more damning indictment of modern society than anything in the movie tbh.

mailforkev · 31-12-2021 9:42pm

Watched it the other night, was grand but not great.

Don’t care about the left vs right nonsense that is going along with it, I don’t live in the US, I just wanted to be more entertained.

It’s a pretty good idea for a movie, just not executed brilliantly.

RandomViewer · 31-12-2021 9:45pm

For some reason bits reminded me of Iron Sky but lacked that film's fun

Kermit.de.frog · 01-01-2022 5:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118384360#Comment_118384360

In spite of social media people generally are not as thick as movies like this make them out.

A lot of people voted for Trump because they were blue in the face with the never changing establishment politicians like Hilary "it's my turn" Clinton.

They put Trump in for a term to give them a bloody nose.

That's exactly what they got. You don't need to be a red neck Trump supporter, more sophisticated voters intentionally gave the political establishment a hiding as well.

Hollywood hated that of course.

There are comedic moments here but not a great movie overall and it was too long as well.

Homelander · 02-01-2022 2:10pm

I thought it was surprisingly excellent. Obviously the charicature's were extreme, but that's the whole point, it's absolutely not trying to be subtle by design so I'm not sure where this whole backlash comes from, as if it's masquerading as some high flying piece of art.

It's not, it's an extremely simple and open dig at climate change indifference, unchecked capitalism, the inherent ridiculousness of the political system and vested interests complex in the United States, regardless of what side, or none, you fall on.

I mean even the bit with the three-star General charging them for the snacks near the start. It's just a humorous nod, not meant to be taken 100% literally.

I really, really enjoyed it and I didn't expect much given the weak reception.

Still stihl waters 3 · 02-01-2022 7:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118405372#Comment_118405372

What was the nod towards regarding the general charging snacks, was it a reference to something

RandomViewer · 02-01-2022 7:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407113#Comment_118407113

I was guessing pay rates in the military

silverharp · 02-01-2022 8:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407218#Comment_118407218

Generals in the US are often ridiculed for the high lifestyles they have not to mention they easy transition into military companies if they leave, whatever they were going for it wasnt that

completedit · 02-01-2022 11:17pm

One thing about the film I just don't get is why the solution to blow up the asteroid was depicted in such unfavourable terms? Given the timescale involved this would be the only way to deal with such an impending disaster.

McGrath5 · 02-01-2022 11:52pm

I really enjoyed this and am surprised by the mixed reaction its getting, I'll watch it again over the next few weeks as I'm sure there were a few gags that went over my head. John Rylance I think stole the show with his performance.

Newbie20 · 03-01-2022 12:09am

I haven’t seen this yet but I will watch it soon based on comments here. It doesn’t surprise me that it is getting mixed reviews from “professionals”. I’ve lost count of the amount of comedies over the years that I nearly didn’t see because of crap reviews only to really enjoy them. These critics take everything so seriously and have to analyse every bloody thing rather than just taking something as it is and having a laugh.

Man Vs ManUre · 03-01-2022 12:11pm

So if this does happen in real life will we only have 6 months before we spot it?? And how exactly do we stop it??

AndrewJRenko · 03-01-2022 12:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118408568#Comment_118408568

Because the Musk character saw it as an opportunity to make money.

AndrewJRenko · 03-01-2022 12:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410010#Comment_118410010

It is happening in real life.

Penn · 03-01-2022 12:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407113#Comment_118407113

I think it's just about how so many people who may have joined the military or politics for honourable and altrusitic reasons can end up just being in it for the money. Even high-ranking, well-paid, "honourable" people like the army general will sell out that honour for a quick buck if they see the chance and thought they can get away with it.

completedit · 03-01-2022 12:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410074#Comment_118410074

It's not. This was a civilisation ending event, climate change will be hugely disruptive but like everything it will be the south that suffers disproportionately. I thought that's where they were going with blowing up the comet, that the global north would avoid the fallout but it would impact somewhere south of the equator.

I honestly think some people just equate climate change with polar bears extinction(I don't want Polar Bears to go extinct but many species have gone extinct in the history of our planet) and not the real human tragedy that will unfold.

AndrewJRenko · 03-01-2022 12:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410097#Comment_118410097

Do you think the people in the south are just going to say "oh dear, that's a shame "? They're going to move north, regardless of what walls and borders are in place.

And have a look at the flood projections for Dublin and Cork before you conclude that the north isn't going to be impacted

Manic Moran · 03-01-2022 4:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118405372#Comment_118405372

I submit there are two problems. It's fine to be not subtle, but if you're going to be not subtle, at least make it funny if you're marketing it as a comedy. Team America is as subtle a political commentary as a tower block being demolished, but the jokes came fast enough that if you didn't laugh at one, you'll probably be laughing in a minute anyway at the next one, regardless of if you 'prefer' to laugh at the left or the right sides of the political spectrum. It's a memeable movie we were quoting humorously at each other in Iraq. Idiocracy didn't just do away with being subtle, it put it in a ten-ton-press, ran it through a shredder, doused it with petrol and lit it off with a flamethrower, completely detaching the environment from anything akin to 'the real world' and reveling in the ludicrousness of the world in which it was set. Sortof like the similarly premised Demolition Man, which didn't try to take itself seriously at all, despite the very obvious poking at certain concepts and having an at-first-glance 'normal' tone. DLU made me chuckle a few times, but it wasn't what I would call 'funny.' Honestly, I thought the best bits were the serious bits, such as the from minute #1 to the first presentation at the oval office (Jason notwithstanding), or the dinner table at the end.

DLU tries to mix unsubtle caricature with seriousness, and it just doesn't work for me. Subtle caricature, that's another matter, but it's not what DLU tries for. It was two hours and a quarter, way too long than it needed to be for the message it was trying to send, and it got tiring.

It may just very much be a matter of sense of humour. My wife (who didn't much like DLU either) also, for some reason I cannot fathom, does not find Monty Python amusing, and I'm no fan of some of her 'comedies'. All I can do is accept that what she likes isn't what I like.

Spudmonkey · 04-01-2022 12:23pm

From a film POV it was good, not brilliant.

Some of the jokes were a bit hit and miss at times, overall it was too long and some of the performances seemed a bit forced (Streep, Hill, who I'd both have time for normally). Thought Leo was his usual solid self and really enjoyed Rylance's Bash CEO, for some reason he kept reminding me of a puppet from Team America, not sure if it was the hair. His un-nerving laugh (Bezos), his general woodenness (Zuckerberg), his slight overbite (Musk), his un-willingness to make eye contact. He was a mashed-up parody off all the guys he was trying to take the piss off and I thought he stole every scene he was in.

Regarding the message behind it and the heavy handed way it was delivered, I actually found it bang on. I'm normally not a fan of movies heavily edited with moments of pop-culture/social media etc. but I actually thought there was some moments which absolutely hit the nail on the head; the American love island being interrupted for a presidential announcement on a shuttle mission to save the world. Ironically it was something like love island which was trending highest on twitter in Ireland last November the week COP26 was happening. Earlier on in the year when the IPCC report was released, it made it way top for a day only to be replaced with Premier League transfers. While not subtle, I thought the message it was trying to convey of the complete indifference the general population have to the climate crisis was fairly close to reality.

TheIrishGrover · 04-01-2022 12:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118415416#Comment_118415416

From a film POV it was good, not brilliant.

Some of the jokes were a bit hit and miss at times, overall it was too long and some of the performances seemed a bit forced (Streep, Hill, who I'd both have time for normally). Thought Leo was his usual solid self and really enjoyed Rylance's Bash CEO, for some reason he kept reminding me of a puppet from Team America, not sure if it was the hair. His un-nerving laugh (Bezos), his general woodenness (Zuckerberg), his slight overbite (Musk), his un-willingness to make eye contact. He was a mashed-up parody off all the guys he was trying to take the piss off and I thought he stole every scene he was in.

Yeah, this exactly for me too. Thought it was OK but not amazing. I pretty much agree totally with the actor/character opinions above. Hill/Streep too OTT even for a black comedy. Too much of a caricature (In a movie FULL of caricatures). Rylance's Tech billionaire was both terrifyingly OTT and yet accurate. The psychopathic nature of these tech billionaires (Singular lack of empathy. Inability to take any form of criticism/questioning) and the cult-like reverence from their most ardent fans is everywhere to be seen. Look at the worship of that horror of a person like Steve Jobs and Bezos in particular.

But it didn't really pull together well. Too long. Too many characters. Each one played by someone famous. It actually became distracting (Reminded me of the latest remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. EVERY part was a huge actor). It actually took you out of it a bit. You were never looking at Astronomers or a president and her COS. Or a new anchor or random kid. You were looking at DiCaprio and Lawrence. At Streep and Hill. At Perry and Blanchet. At Chalmaine.

As for the message, well, it was all more than a bit smug. Was all ...... "Oh look, Climate Change is a real thing now that Hollywood is parodying it. See? It's not really about a comet. It's about Climate Change. See. SEE?!!!??? Look. Hollywood is telling you.... SEE? Aren't we clever? Climate Change is real you know. See. SEE? Have you gotten it yet? Huh? See???!!!"

So, yeah, at least it was on Netflix. I know I would be p1ssed if I'd paid money to go to the cinema and have a bunch of celebrities who have HUGE carbon footprints chastise me for preferring a plastic straw over a paper one.

So yeah, now I think about it. The biggest problem I had with this is that it was basically "Smug: The Movie"

RandomViewer · 06-01-2022 6:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410010#Comment_118410010

Steve Buscemi and Bruce Willis

daheff · 06-01-2022 6:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118353981#Comment_118353981

Not a fan. Wasn't a great story (imo), and not a lot to keep you engaged in it.

Le Bruise · 07-01-2022 12:54pm

Just got around to seeing this, and I really enjoyed it. Had mixed feelings going in, as some friends had said it was brilliant and others said it was sh1te (much like the polarising views on this thread).

I can get both sides of the argument and why people dislike it, but I just like McKay as a director, felt it was a top cast, a decent bit of satire (so what if it was obvious) and pretty funny at times.

Top humorous bits for me:

Ron Perlman as the racist/homophobic hero (particularly his 'from a different era' rant as they launched).

The general charging for free snacks

The shovels constantly going up in price (silly and throwaway, but I like that kind of humour)

08-01-2022 12:18am

Stopped watching an hour in, it’s rubbish.

charlie_says · 08-01-2022 1:37am

First half entertaining.

Second half awful.

igCorcaigh · 09-01-2022 10:17pm

I quite liked this. Meryl Streep was great as always.

Not to be taken too seriously, but an obvious parody of serious events like the current political landscape and the challenge of communicating the serious of climate change to society.

Worth a watch, without too much expectations.

Greyfox · 15-01-2022 11:19pm

Turned it off after an hour, absolute condesending garbage. This film is not satire or entertainment, its basically someone just hitting you on the head every 20 seconds with a stick and shouting global warming at you. I'm genuinely shocked that some people have given it good reviews

BattleCorp1 · 17-01-2022 1:50pm

It struck the bullseye when it came to identifying how society is behaving right now.

That said, I'd have to be paid to watch it again. It's not a great movie.

wylo · 18-01-2022 6:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489298#Comment_118489298

Yep it nailed the current state of Western society and probably a good bit of non Western society, so much so that I felt things that were pointed out to me that I probably subconsciously noticed but not genuinely had it spelt out to me so clearly.

I felt it also did a great job of showing us how we're dealing with climate change, again probably even moreso than I realised.

But as a movie in itself I didn't love it, when it was doing straight up comedy it felt more like something in a Will Ferrell movie. I love Jonah Hill and his style, but again, not sure if it suited this type of movie.

Would love to have seen a more subtle parody and a little less comedy for the sake of comedy, but to be fair that would have probably slashed views in half.

Id still watch it again, but its not superb, when I think of how much I enjoyed DiCaprio in things like Wolf of Wall Street and Django Unchained I don't get that same buzz from this.

Don't Look Up (Adam McKay) [Netflix]

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