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Date: 12/31/2021
On Netflix: “Don’t Look Up”
I really liked both “The Big Short” and “Vice” from director and writer Adam McKay and had great expectations for this latest film, but to say I was disappointed is an understatement.
This film is supposed to be a satire in which a comet hurdling in a collision course with the earth is the stand-in crisis for climate change. The goal of the film is for viewers to see the dangerous absurdity of ignoring an event that is threatening the existence of this planet, at least as we know it.
Considering how well McKay chose to present the potentially confusing facts of the 2008 housing crisis and subsequent economic meltdown in “The Big Short,” I thought this topic would be well within his wheelhouse.
The film tells the story of astrophysicist Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovering a huge comet that will hit the Earth, effectively killing the planet. She shows her data to Professor Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) who confirms the collision will take place in six months.
The two scientists contact NASA, which in turns brings them an ally, Planetary Defense Coordination Office head Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) who gets them into the White House. By the way, The Planetary Defense Coordination Office is a real thing.
Now the satire kicks in. The president ( Meryl Streep) is a vapid blonde woman who clearly hasn’t a clue and is all about herself. Sounds familiar? She eventually goes ahead believing the end is near but uses it as a way to distract the country from her other problems and to try to secure the House in the mid-term elections.
After the two scientists leak the story to a New York newspaper, they wind up on a highly-rated morning talk show where they see just how their message is received – it’s not entertaining enough ¬ and Kate becomes livid on the air, making her the butt of social media memes and losing her boyfriend.
Randall, though, is seen as good-looking, attracting the initially unwanted attention by the female TV host Brie (Cate Blanchett) and becoming an advisor to the president about the asteroid.
From this point on the film veers from broad cartoon comedy to tightly aimed satire to drama. This is the film’s problem. It has a great cast. The premise of how a government would react to such astonishing news is solid. The difficulty I had was how the film lurched from style to style.
There are also subplots which add little to the narrative such as the illicit affair Randall has with Brie. It doesn’t add a thing to the film. The real seduction is how Randall decides to accept the offer to be on the president’s team of advisors even though he (and we) understand they are all self-centered idiots.
All of this is actually a commentary on how too many people reject climate charge even though the science and recent events are clear about its origins and effects. The analogy could also be used to comment on the pandemic and how again science has been discounted by the Trump Administration as well as many of his supporters.
The trouble is I think many viewers may not truly realize the film’s intent as it’s not that clear. They will see it as an end of the world comedy with some very big name actors.
McKay ends the film with a scene I thought was quite moving, a moment of forgiveness, redemption and love. He can’t leave it alone, though, and tacks on an epilogue that is thoroughly ill advised, ruining whatever impact the film might have had.
Hey, every director has his or her detours and I’m sure McKay will be back with a project that shows the depth of his considerable talents. In the meantime, skip this film and watch “The Big Short” and “Vice.”
On Blu-ray: “Ragtime”
Paramount has released a new Blu-ray of the 1981 film directed by Milos Forman, which was adapted from the best-selling book of the same name.
The action takes place at the turn of the 20th century at which time Theodore Roosevelt was president. E. L. Doctorow’s book was sprawling in its story blending fiction characters with historical ones from that period. Forman and his screenwriters carved the story down with the focus placed on Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard Rollins), an African-American piano player who seeks justice after a gang of Irish volunteer firefights wreck his car.
Walker’s infant son is taken in by an affluent white family and later the baby’s mother joins them. The family’s mother (Mary Steenburgen) and father (James Olson) – the characters have no names – are clearly but subtlety at odds with one another.
Walker’s story is told alongside that of a Jewish immigrant Tateh (Mandy Patinkin) who is trying to make a living in his new home.
A third storyline involves a real character Evelyn Nesbitt (Elizabeth McGovern), a beautiful young woman married to a millionaire who short noted architect Stanford White because he believes he had molested her. Nesbitt becomes a celebrity because of the controversy appearing on stage and later silent films.
These characters and storylines all have moments of convergence and Forman does an admirable job making the narrative smoothly come together.
I will readily admit I was attracted to this film because it marked the last theatrical film for James Cagney, who plays the New York City police commissioner. Cagney is wonderful, by the way. Other vintage actors include Pat O’Brien and Donald O’ Connor.
The film was an early one for a list of performers including Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, John Ratzenburger and Debbie Allen.
The film is a thoughtful meditation on that era in American life. Sometimes hopeful, sometimes melancholy, the story shows just how fast some elements of American life changed and just how slowly others changed.
The ending is a bit choppy, but overall I think this is a wonderful film that deserves your re-discovery.