Don’t look up, if the end of the world is a ridiculous business

Just another movie about the end of the world? Not really. Here the destruction of the planet becomes a ridiculous (and chilling) business. Don’t look up, in cinemas from December 8th and from December 24th on Netflix, it is of a difficult-to-define genre, between political satire and conscious catastrophism. Everything starts from this assumption: What if the world is ending and nobody gives a damn, including most people who could actually do something about it? Adam McKay, who wrote and directed it (formerly Oscar for the non-original screenplay of The big bet) had in mind a film about climate change, but to make it more incisive (and grotesque) he chose a shorter deadline: six months and 14 days to the end. A stellar cast has gathered around us, which already smells of Oscar: Leonardo Dicaprio (thrilled to be able to once again marry her cause of the heart), Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Himesh Patel, Ariana Grande.

It all starts with a PhD student from the University of Michigan, Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence, with a mullet cut of red hair and double nose piercings), who scans the sky and makes a surprising astronomical discovery. Comet Dibiasky, as it will be called from now on, is on its way to Earth and will hit it in just over six months. And since it has a diameter of about 5-10 kilometers, the impact will be devastating, it will cause the extinction of the human species. Dibiasky and his nervous professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (a DiCaprio very fond of checkered shirts), immediately report the discovery to NASA and are immediately transported to the White House. There, however, their terrible news is not received as it should.

Meryl Streep – in the film President of the United States (very Trump genre) – he bursts out laughing: “Do you know how many times we have been predicted the end of the world, or the arrival of aliens?”. Better to deal with the midterm elections and the usual circus that surrounds it. His plan? “Sit tight and assess», Wait and make sure. His chief of staff, his son (of course), agrees as well.

At this point Dibiasky and Mindy, incredulous and disgusted, decide to ignore the president’s confidentiality order and to make their story public. For the good of humanity. So they end up as guests of a morning talk show, The Daily Rip. In the lineup, their intervention comes after the breakup between the pop star of the moment (Ariana Grande) and her rapper boyfriend. The manufacturer’s advice: “Keep your news light, funny “. The hilarious and well-matched duo of journalists – Cate Blanchett e Tyler Perry – does the rest. Our heroes involuntarily become celebrities, but with different effects: while Mindy’s charming embarrassment quickly makes him the sexiest scientist in America (on par with a young Dr. Fauci), Dibiasky’s live screams (“Well, maybe, the discussion about the end of the planet shouldn’t be fun! Maybe it should be terrifying. And creepy … since we all 100 percent fucking die! “) make her the ideal target for memes and tweets:”Well, the charming astronomer will always be welcome, but the screaming lady will also not»Declares an immense Cate Blanchett.

Society can only be divided into two: deniers and non-deniers (does it sound like something you’ve already heard?), who screams “Don’t Look Up!», do not look up, anyway no catastrophe will happen, and those who support science (Look Up!). This goes on for the next six months and 14 days. The far right speaks of pure alarmism; the left squirms in panic but only organizes a big star-filled event like the Last Concert to Save the World. The comet creates new jobs, the scientist DiCaprio becomes the testimonial of science, a sex symbol for covers, ends up in bed with Cate Blanchett who lets herself be seduced by the cry of “tell me the world will end!”. Not even the billionaire financier of the presidential campaign, a mix of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, and the millennial who falls in love with Dibiasky (Timothée Chalamet).

A film like this can only end in three ways: with the scientists denied by reality, with the dull president who somehow manages to save the situation or with the entire planet being wiped out. Who are we to reveal it? In any case, Meryl Streep’s definition is valid: «It’s a funny metaphor about global warming like Doctor Strangelove ».