Don’t look up reviews of Don’t Look Up Michalina Czerwońska
Don’t Look Up is a film that garnered enormous attention at the end of last year and as of now is Netflix’s second most viewed film of all time. This isn’t particularly surprising, considering the film’s star-studded cast, the well-established reputation of its director (Adam McKay), and an intense marketing campaign founded by the picture’s giant distributor. Yet, the reception of the film has not been entirely favourable. The critics’ reviews have been rather harsh. In fact, Don’t Look Up is the first Leonardo DiCaprio film in years to have received a ‘rotten’ rating on the popular site Rotten Tomatoes. Still, the general public’s response tends to be a lot more approving; for instance, the audience score at Rotten Tomatoes has racked up 78%, while that of the critics is only 56%. Moreover, there is a particular group of viewers who seem to strongly oppose the negative reviews, e.g. some climate scientists and activists. So, what is it about the film that the critics hate? And why do the audiences disagree?
Riddled with stock footage, strange pace, tacky editing techniques and stale wannabe memes, the picture made me wonder how this experienced and talented creator could allow for such shortcomings. There are some original and hilarious moments in the film (Jennifer Lawrence’s character’s constant confusion about the Air Force general who makes the main protagonists pay for free snacks was my personal favourite), but those are rather few and scattered throughout the picture in a way that does not really salvage its overall image. The problem is that the most criticised aspect of Don’t Look Up is not its disappointing style. What the critics are most displeased with has more to do with the bluntness of the film’s message. While the picture is clearly blunt, I believe it is not necessarily a reason for such harsh treatment. In my mind, the way the critics approach the film is rather irrelevant and unproductive. As I have been looking through various negative reviews, the word that seemed to always reappear was “smug”, and I do understand why someone would describe it in such a manner. The political satire is unbelievably obvious and rather banal – it is even more true in the film’s portrayal of the media. Some moments appear to have been taken straight out of a high-school moralising talk for students, for instance in the scene with DiCaprio’s sentimental and cliché “how
If the primary target of the film’s popular critiques were its lack of taste and general clumsiness, I would not dare object. Even though Don’t Look Up shares its director, writer and even editor with the stylish and thrilling hit, The Big Short, it achieves nothing near the flair of its 2015 predecessor. 12
