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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Don't Look Up (2021) in Movies

Jan 9, 2022  
Don't Look Up (2021)
Don't Look Up (2021)
2021 | Comedy
8
7.1 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
A Brilliant Satire
Satire is a tricky thing to get right, there is a balance between humor and pathos that must be struck in order to drive home the point.

The Netflix Original Satire, DON’T LOOK UP, Directed by Adam McKay (THE BIG SHORT) finds the right line, beautifully.

A send-up of the Climate Change debate (but also, a condemnation of the reaction to the current Global Virus), DON’T LOOK UP has a who’s who of performers that are at the top of their game and delivers a top-notch entertainment that also makes you think.

The plot of the film is simple enough - a PhD Student (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a “planet killing” comet that is on a collision course with Earth and, joined by her Professor (Leonardo DiCaprio), tries to get the “powers-that-be” to listen to the threat.

DiCaprio (in essence, in the Anthony Fauci role) is superb as the Professor that tries to convince the Politicians about the Science of the threat. His frustration at hitting the brick wall of “political spin” crescendos in an absurdly bravura performance.

Meryl Streep is brilliant (of course) as the President who is more interested in how this situation affects her, politically, than how it affects the populace. She is joined by a sychophantic Jonah Hill (as her son and Chief of Staff). Hill has never been better and understands the nature of this character and mines it for comedic gold.

Cate Blanchette and Tyler Perry are also strong as the Cable News Anchors who are more interested in keeping the conversation “light and fun” and they actually have good “co-anchor” chemistry with each other.

Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Rob Morgan, Ron Perlman and, yes, Ariana Grande are also strong in smaller, almost cameo, roles.

But the standout star of this film is Jennifer Lawrence as PhD student Kate DiBiasky, the person who discovers the comet (and for whom the comet is named). It is easy to forget just how strong of a performer that Lawrence is but she goes toe-to-toe with Streep/DiCaprio/Blanchette et al and more than holds her own. Her character/performance is the backbone - and conscience - that holds this film together.

Of course, credit for all of this must go to Writer/Director Adam McKay who showed in THE BIG SHORT that he is more than “the comedy Director” of such films like ANCHORMAN and he puts that ability to work, strongly, in this film. He clearly had a vision of what he wanted to put across in this film and straddles the line between humor and seriousness in such a way that no matter what side of the “Global Change” and “Global Pandemic” crisis you are on, you will think that this film skewers you and favors the other side.

Which is the sign of a terrific satire.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Miss March (2009) in Movies

Oct 1, 2020 (Updated Oct 8, 2020)  
Miss March (2009)
Miss March (2009)
2009 | Comedy
6
4.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Bizarre, funny, and lovingly goofy enough to get a pass; but for being barely 90 or so minutes this doesn't just tread water it *drowns* before even the hour + ten mark. Still liked it, saw what this was going for immediately - a mostly effective satire of the usually ignominious teen sex genre at the time and its far past tired formula, as well as the way the 2000s noxious 'sex culture' warped its young men into Neanderthal-esque sexists (both the open kind and those who were brainwashed enough to think that they weren't) who saw women as nothing more than empty meat ciphers to project their selfish desires onto. Can't believe so many people misunderstood this but then again, the WKUK bunch have always been far ahead of their time anyway. That being said however, I have very similar problems with this as I did with a genre satire such as 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵 in that it sets up its tropes to lambast and then not much sooner does it start to embrace them itself. Though this is still ten trillion times better than some bottom-of-the-barrel, spoon-fed meta horseshit like 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘐𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤? - Trevor Moore's quintessential dopey dudebro is deeply hysterical, and both he and Cregger are pitch-perfect as always. For all its grinding halts and hit-or-miss jokes this still remains a smart, unfiltered sideshow of point-blank slapstick and caustic gross-out gags that certainly catered to my inner imbecile.