Don’t Look Up

Directed by Adam McKay, Don’t Look Up follows two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio’s Randall Mindy and Jennifer Lawrence’s Kate Dibiasky) as they discover an asteroid on a collision course with earth and subsequently struggle to get anybody to take them seriously. It’s an appealingly larger-than-life premise that’s employed to mostly watchable yet thoroughly erratic effect by McKay, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, delivers a decidedly heavy-handed comedy that’s been suffused with less-than-subtle political parallels and satirical elements – with the proliferation of such attributes ensuring that the picture is, from time to time, a little too eye-rollingly blunt in terms of its messaging. There’s little doubt, then, that Don’t Look Up benefits substantially from an inherently compelling setup that’s heightened by plenty of laugh-out-loud funny bits of silliness and a raft of stellar, top-notch performances – with, particularly, DiCaprio’s consistently captivating efforts enhancing and elevating the proceedings on a regular basis. And although the palpably overlong running time paves the way for a distressingly hit-and-miss midsection, Don’t Look Up recovers for an impressively electrifying final stretch that manages to pack an unexpectedly emotional punch (and also features one last hilarious gag, too) – which ultimately does cement its place as an uneven endeavor that nevertheless remains quite watchable from start to finish.

*** out of ****