“Don’t Look Up” is not your typical apocalyptic movie. Sure, it does have some of the elements of a doomsday film – a huge meteor is hurling toward Earth, chaos ensues and leaders are of very little help. 

Director Adam McKay is not interested in these flights of fancy, however. There is too much going on in the world right now to not include some kind of warning or deeper meaning in a modern film of this nature.  

Political unrest is rampant, the future of planet Earth is terrifying and oftentimes, leadership seems ineffective.  

And it doesn’t seem that most of humanity is interested in resolving any of these problems. 

Instead, we are interested in fighting with each other and focusing on trivial matters rather than fighting for solutions. Or even if we are fighting for solutions, it is easy to feel powerless if it feels like no one around us is fighting for them alongside us.  

McKay perfectly sums up this sentiment in “Don’t Look Up.” While the film is a comedy, there are deep tones of anger, anguish and frustration that parallel the tones that are present in the world today.  

The film perfectly shows how it seems that humanity as a species is blowing it, just hurling toward destruction with not a care in the world. The film pushes these ideas to the forefront but sweetens them with elements of comedy and a cast that almost everyone is bound to love, with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Ariana Grande.  

But McKay does not directly confront these themes by shoving them in your face. Rather, he takes a subtler, metaphorical approach. The world-destroying comet is figurative of the many crises that are being hurled at the world today.  

The comedic elements of the movie also serve as a warning that the joke may be on us soon if we do not act now. The film chronicles scientists, political leaders, media stars and military types as they deal with – or do not deal with – the impending doom that the comet presents. 

Meryl Streep, who plays the POTUS in the film, is visibly bored when the scientists warn her of the comet, saying “I hear there’s an asteroid or a comet or something that you don’t like the looks of.” It is unbelievable in a way that it’s comical, but it’s also believable in a way that it’s terrifying.  

While this movie does present elements of comedy, all in all McKay is just scolding us as a human race. However, we do deserve it.  

ANNA MALESIEWSKI

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