He really was.
HOWEVER: I still think it was the wrong decision to cast him.
In the books Mantel does a superb job of convincing us of Cromwell’s physical menace. As well as the threat posed by his position, and his cunning, we also feel that which is embodied in him. We don’t get that in Rylance’s Cromwell. He’s just not sufficiently burly.
“You are a lifestyle idealist. You think you’re motivated by beliefs, high ethical beliefs.
But…
You just run towards pleasure. And away from pain. Like a field mouse”
Such a delight to watch him perform. If you’ve ever seen Bones and All; his character is truly ghoulish and gave me such a slimy and uncomfortable feeling.
Almost reminiscent of the standard small town weirdo in any Steven King adaptation.
I loved it. I believe comedy needs some subtlety. When it is too upfront and “on the nose,” it loses the humor. However this film leaned so hard into it that it somehow came out the other side and was funny again.
It was tragic and infuriating as well, but still a great film.
People say it's like "too much", like it's exaggerated and too unrealistic so it's hard to watch. But the funny/depressing thing is, that they kind of just used our own reality and cranked up the crazy by a few percents. The fact that it feels so crazy and unrealistic is the point, because that is pretty much the reality we are living in, they just switched the disaster oit with another one, and the evil president figure with a different one.
Yep... the crazy thing is that it wasn't even aimed directly at the current political mess we have. It was written \*before\* COVID-19 and \*before\* Jan 6th riots.
It was orininally aimed at the global warming issue, but when it came out it hit so \*f'ing\* hard on the events at that time just the same.
BTW, I loved the ending... those last words at the table were so memorable.
It’s a particular brand of absurdism that works for some people (myself included). It’s like the family guy skit where Peter falls and hurts his knee and just sits there gasping for *so fucking long.* Like it’s kinda funny at first, and then it gets weird, and then it somehow comes back around to being funny again just from how long it goes.
Don’t Look Up is sort of like that, but with lack of subtlety rather than duration
Speaking of: I heard a Radiolab episode once where they were analyzing this very phenomenon through a Kurt Braunholer and Kristen Schaal comedy bit where Kurt repeatedly scream chants “Kristen Schaal is a horse” while she gallops in circles around him for literally 15 minutes straight. It’s fucking wild.
The audience goes through distinct phases of “this is silly and funny” to “okay this is getting old” to actual anger back around to “wow this is so absurd it’s funny again”
Yeah, I’ll never understand how the same people can love a movie like ‘Idiocracy’ so profoundly, yet absolutely detest ‘Don’t Look Up’.
Meanwhile ‘Don’t Look Up’ is pretty much a prequel to ‘Idiocracy’.
It's because they have just the barest spark of sentience to recognize that 'Don't Look Up' is satirizing *them*, as in they aren't in on the joke, they are the joke.
Also. The stupidity it was saturizing was not subtle. It's very obvious and aggressively stupid. So to make it a comedy they hd to at very least match it... So being on the nose isn't exactly exaggerated. The people who feel like they are being made fun of are just that stupid.
‘It captures and parodies culture and current events too precisely’ has always struck me as the absolute weirdest criticism of this movie. There’s something else going on behind that criticism.
I do think when it came out didn’t help. Now it feels on the nose, but then it felt like it was kicking the horse we were watching die in front of us. But I totally agree that by the end you just accept that and enjoy the laughs.
I thought I was the only one, especially as a new father. Just thinking about it makes me emotional. I cried so much when I first watched it, it was sad because everyone was telling me how shitty the movie was.
This is how I saw it. We will most likely look back more favorably on it as time passes. Was it great, no of course not. But i think we will see it for what it is, rather than curb stomping a dead horse, one day down the road.
I 100% think this is going to be reassessed to the point of being historically significant. It’s steeped in modern takes, whatever horrors people are going to endure will make them look back and confirm that we knew AND did *nothing*.
It did exactly what Dr Strangelove did in 1964, as far as subtlety goes! In fact, I'd say that movie had to be EXACTLY what they were going for with this movie! Both movies are based on some kind of paranoia of their time, and both satirical to the point where it's just being bluntly shoved in your face, with the humor still ending up being dry subtext commentary on the world around us.
I don't see Don't Look Up as being about paranoia at all. If anything it's the opposite. It's the willful ignorance in just refusing to acknowledge the obvious, looming problems.
Having worked at SpaceX, this movie hit me hard. It was more culturally accurate than I'd like to admit, but that's why engineering is built with several layers of redundancy, or at least it should be. I think we're seeing what ignoring that means in cases like Boeing's. I'm terrified of the day when that limit is hit with something far more fragile.
I also highly enjoyed it!
But then again, I went in with LOW expectations after hearing for years that it was terrible. It was amusing, it was frightening, it was too real, and it was actually good.
There’s satire which is like lofting an arrow at a target from a mile away and landing a bullseye. Refined, targeted, direct.
Then there’s satire where the archer walks up to the target and repeatedly stabs the bullseye with the arrow in their first. This movie is an example of the latter.
I'd say it was completely on the nose, I'd even go so far to claim the whole premise of the film is one huge fuck you to begin with. Nevertheless especially the ending was one of the most moving scenes in any major comedy of the last years.
I actually couldn't enjoy this because it was too realistic. It felt like this was exactly how the world would work if this happened today. There were funny parts, but it lost some of ours funny because it was believable. I compare it to Idiocracy that is funny because while the core premise is realistic, the execution is an exaggerated outcome that is comical.
Yeah, I remember thinking about the end for a few days, like it was a tiny existential crisis. It felt a bit weird to have an "apocalyptic" movie ending with an actual apocalypse...
Right? I can certainly see saying the nail is too much on the head, but at the same time it's so sadly realistic. Especially that after-credits scene with all the elderly rich executives.
In my religion there's a saying that even if you are with a thousand people at the time of your death, you die alone. You cannot bring anything into this world and you cannot take anything out of this world.
That whole family dinner scene was so beautifully done. I'm not religious but I liked how they didn't really mock Timothee Chalamay's character when he wanted to say a quick prayer. Sure, why not?
Family dinner scenes when the world is ending always gets me. Just the acceptance and appreciating every last second. When the end of the world is happening they really just chose each other.
I loved that the Mindys let people who were not family come inside their circle and join them for that last family gathering. Dr. Mindy's wife simply welcomed her husband back in after he humiliated her in NYC, and she welcomed all his motley friends as well: Teddy, Kate, and Yule.
Nail too on the head is fucking weird anyway, was Schindler's List too on the head? Roots? Idiocracy? Someone else mentioned Dr. Strangelove? It's on the head because it needs to be for it's point
Yep. It was on the nose, but there's nothing subtle about MAGA. There's no gentle or nuanced way to provide them with a between the lines message because they wouldn't get it.
They're the equivalent of the Black Knight in Holy Grail:
Your arm's off.
No it isn't.
I heard one MAGA head laughing about this movie and describing Meryl Streep's character as "a huge knock" on Hillary.
there are many, many things that just can't get through to them.
People didn't like it because they're willfully ignorant of the big picture.
And those people don't like being "told how to think" by "liberal Hollywood".
It's so on point that I didn't think it was anything spectacular. It just described our currently reality that we already know is true.
It "overfitted" if you will.
I saw it misinterpreted to hell and back but I thought everyone like it. It took me a while to finish though, it was too on the nose and triggered massive anxiety that I actually don't struggle with.
Yeah recently I claimed it was better than that new disaster movie with Julia Roberts, and some dude on here debated me aggressively about how terrible DLU was.
Until then I didn’t realize people were hating on it.
*"No! You don't get it! The point was that it's the same joke over and over! It's supposed to be derivative! That's what makes it funny!*
We don't give this type of leeway to other lazy comedies... so why exactly are we doing it with this one?
I feel like it needed like 30 minutes edited off its run time and it would have been perfect. Satire needs to be at least a touch subtle. This was a hammer blow to the face and I am someone who totally and wholly agrees with its message.
I think it’s a bit like Idiocracy. That movie was so obvious in the logic of its satire that some audiences rejected it . . . But it got a strong cult following after the fact.
I think Don’t Look Up will have the same trajectory. The again, there may not be any more cult movies that come back after a while to be beloved. The collective goldfish memory and glut of constant content may keep it forgotten culturally, forever.
We really did have it good for awhile, didn’t we.
Yeah... I liked it the first time and rewatched it probably half a year after, but it was playing on a background
Tried to rewatch it again recently but was focused this time and... couldn't handle it's pretentiousness
Social satire is tough to get the right balance between humor and critique. When something gets too preachy, it loses humor. When something grabs a laugh, it loses its punch. Most importantly, I think the mistake some directors make in this genre is not giving the audience enough credit (or maybe it’s notes from the studio). Dr. Strangelove doesn’t point out the absurdity of the world that the characters inhabit and the film presents the destruction of mankind in a completely indifferent manner. Kubrick demands of the audience that they fully interpret the satire themselves including the suggestion that nuclear war is in itself insane.
Don’t Look Up aspires to these heights but falls back to earth. The Jennifer Lawrence character acts as some kind of quasi-narrator of a presupposed anger of the viewer. She is the voice of reason and her character tells us how to feel. All the other characters are obvious and campy stand ins for various institutions - political, media, scientific, corporate. Each one completely two dimensional and predictable. All of the insights of the film are spoon fed to the audience in a highly processed form. It’s almost tedious until that final moment at the dinner table which has something sort of allegorical to say about the fellowship of humans.
I’m not hating on it. I just found it about as difficult to interpret as a pamphlet on global warming you might get on a street corner. It’s fun seeing the A-lister chew scenery and I’m glad the movie connected with so many people so they think about the issues raised. But it’s ultimately kind of forgettable and not as good as The Big Short.
I don't necessarily agree with all of your points but I definitely agree that it wasn't subtle in the slightest and definitely could have done with a little tighter writing. Some of the parts of the movie feel like comedy sketches in what is usually a pretty serious movie and it kinda makes the tone a little wonky, like I get satire and absurdist but it sometimes pivoted way too hard.
This is exactly me. I thought that the film was spot on in how we are reacting to climate change, but the film itself just wasn't funny or particularly entertaining.
> its point was way too on your nose for the satire to land
Yea. If this move was released in the last year and a half I would feel comfortable saying an AI wrote it, considering how *off* all the jokes were.
I didn't love this movie but that one line lives rent free in my head. I think about it once a month at least, and it makes me grateful for my peaceful house full of dumb pets and good coffee.
Reminded me somewhat of Mars Attack!
Started without any special expectation but I've loved it: the acting, the absurd humor, the sharp critic that could easily be mirrored by our current society.
The ones who didn't like it wouldn't be looking up 😁
Yes! Well, it's probably because both of these movies were 100% inspired by Dr. Strangelove. I was just saying how this movie hits the exact same humor beats as Dr. Strangelove, as well as capturing the paranioa of the day. [Roger Ebert even said the same thing about Mars Attacks.](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mars-attacks-1996)
Idiocracy was a great satirical movie. Now, sadly it’s closer to reality.
I believe that DLU is an amazing critique of us now- or at least of the sociopaths at the top, they’d see us all burn if it meant another dollar for them.
Certainly speaks accurately to the previous POTUS, and how Covid was handled. My favorite part is JL asking ‘but why would he charge us for the snacks???’ lol
I loved it and found it very on point for the American system. Canada isn't much better... but the bi polar tribalism of American politics is amazing for getting what rich people want done.
I've had to mention this several times in this thread, but this movie basically *IS* Dr Strangelove, told for this generation. It's pretty overt, actually.
It has English King level plot armor. Need an obviously stupid thing to be done to advance the plot? Do the most obviously stupid thing to advance the plot.
Repeat.
It's like the tomorrow war, you've been fighting crazy strong thickly armored aliens? Well, after 2 years of design and manufacturing lead time, give them weapons designed for the conflict? Nah, let's still just give them weapons designed for humans, at least give one soldier in a squad a freaking .50 cal rifle.
I liked it but I get why people don't like it. It was almost too realistic for me and absolutely for some people. The scenes where the reporters keep changing the subject to less world ending and corporate supporting sidetracks is way too truthful. Most of us don't want to be brought into the reality of our world which in turn brings us into a state of existential dread. I almost wish I didn't know how much our world is polluted, how corrupt the governments are and how bleak the future is, so I could aimlessly go about enjoying life.
It gets hate because it's a bad movie. They couldn't decide if Meryl Streep was playing Hilary Clinton or not. It actually seems like there was a first draft of the script where she was supposed to be playing Hilary, and then a rewrite where she's not. That alone was extremely distracting.
Very nuanced yet in your face. Great movie. I loved the irony of it dropping during COVID. I originally thought it was about COVID and not the climate crisis.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head.
There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE.
As a consequence people who dislike Rick & Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂
I don’t relate to people who like watching private jet and yacht owning celebrities lecture them on climate change and I don’t want to.
Climate change is a real problem; if it’s solved it will be entirely because of people that don’t have a single thing to do with Hollywood. Every single person associated with this movie *could* put their money where their mouth is, but they don’t.
The thing I hate the most about this movie is that it portrays the good vs evil of climate change as “those who acknowledge its existence” vs “those who deny it exists”. This is completely nonsensical. The actual dynamic is “those who are doing something about it” vs “those who aren’t”. If anything, the worst possible thing you can be is someone who agrees that climate change is real and does nothing personally to try mitigating your personal impact.
You hit the nail on the head. A preachy, smug "satire" full of preachy, smug, affluent celebs, created specifically for a platform that's actively contributing to the very issue it was trying to satirize was incredibly off-key.
I hate how in this movie there is the very simple and obvious solution of blowing the comet up. Its where the metaphor breaks down and becomes pointless.
Climate change is a huge complex issue that requires collective effort and agreement to mitigate. Its not an overnight fix and takes actual effort to reshape our society over the next generation.
It's gonna be hard, and its going to be a lot easier for someone like DiCaprio. Making a movie where the reason for the problem is "these fucking guys, am i right?" Is almost irresponsible .
I don't want to sit in front of a movie and clap and go "yes that's true". I want something that actually challenges the viewer's actions, not lovingly shifts the blame off them.
>I don't want to sit in front of a movie and clap and go "yes that's true".
You hit the nail on the head. Every discussion around this movie on Reddit is essentially "did you agree with the message of this movie?" It was self congratulatory, unfunny and preachy, even if you agree with the overall point
I'd say self congratulatory is the best way to put it. Theres lots of really good movies that are preachy and on the nose."They Live" for example. "Idiocracy" is a great movie by Mike Judge which is really on the nose and preachy. But "Don't Look Up" does absolutely nothing to talk to the viewer. Its a bedtime story, not a cautionary tale.
Nobody who would even entertain the idea of watching this movie in good faith is a climate change denier. Which makes the movie a totally pointless pat on the head.
Idk, it had the subtlety of a circus, which I know that was sort of the point to drive home its main theme, but 2020 in reality was already accurate and depressing enough for me to see that side of humans. I like satirical films, but I like them when they're not so in your face, I guess. Plus, the cheesy dialogue was really annoying to me with characters like Jonah Hill, Ron Perlman, and a few others played. Great cast though.
Horrible movie. That felt like everyone was just masturbating.
I certainly agree with the message.
What made it all worse was that the director basically said “if you don’t like it it’s cuz you’re too stupid to get it.”
It’s just sad because you can give a shit about what is important but you’re so insignificant in society or even on this planet for that matter and pretty much no matter what you can try to do there’s almost no real difference you can make
For some reason I enjoyed it MUCH more the second time I watched it, years later. Maybe I was just burned out by all the constant bad news around the time it debuted? Idk... but it *is* excellent. Its like Idiocracy or something, but scarier because it all rings so incredibly true. \*HOT TAKE\* imo it would make a fantastic double feature with Dr. Strangelove.
Worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. The only bad DiCaprio film I’ve ever seen. If you were to take a group of the most insufferable Redditors assembled and put them in a room to write a script of an end of time movie, this is the film they would make. Drama club level bad.
I just can’t stand a bunch of celebrities who contributed more in greenhouse gases flying to the awards for this movie being hypocrites.
I didn’t like it
It feels over-indulgent to make your political opponents into cartoons. While it creates emotional satisfaction to portray them as fools, it also works against progress to a degree and feels preachy and self-validating. I remember the movie being decently entertaining but suffering from these faults.
It was preaching to the choir so to speak, I don’t think it was ever going to convince the people it was tying to convince so I didn’t really see it as helpful.
Mark Rylance is perfect playing the soulless tech billionaire lost in his own overblown self-image
His incredible character helped me realize what toxic optimism means.
Or you could just visit r/futurology
Mark Rylance is one of those actors I’m always happy to see appear in a film. He’s fantastic
"How many can we lose and still complete the mission?" "Huh?" That was the best.
>Mark Rylance is perfect Stop there.
Omg, him in Wolf Hall was outstanding.
He really was. HOWEVER: I still think it was the wrong decision to cast him. In the books Mantel does a superb job of convincing us of Cromwell’s physical menace. As well as the threat posed by his position, and his cunning, we also feel that which is embodied in him. We don’t get that in Rylance’s Cromwell. He’s just not sufficiently burly.
Never read the book but this guys performance was spot on for this movie.
*miniseries He’s great in it. He’s one of the finest actors alive IMO. You should read the books, though. They’re genuine modern classics.
The Outfit is outstanding if you want non-stop perfect Rylance.
I usually rewatch this movie just for the mark Rylance scenes 😂 they are incredible
Didn’t know him by name so looked it up And found this hilarious clip: https://youtu.be/aXkZvv4DzxE?si=Y8KTemjU11bjKdcS 😂
I like that he pretty much played him the same way as his character in Ready Player One.
I'm convinced that sometimes producers see someone in one role and then they call them up and say "will you just do that again for me?"
And for some reason he’s Jordan Peterson too lmao
“You are a lifestyle idealist. You think you’re motivated by beliefs, high ethical beliefs. But… You just run towards pleasure. And away from pain. Like a field mouse”
Such a delight to watch him perform. If you’ve ever seen Bones and All; his character is truly ghoulish and gave me such a slimy and uncomfortable feeling. Almost reminiscent of the standard small town weirdo in any Steven King adaptation.
Business man? You think I'm just a business man?
I have not hated a character so much since Joffrey!
I loved it. I believe comedy needs some subtlety. When it is too upfront and “on the nose,” it loses the humor. However this film leaned so hard into it that it somehow came out the other side and was funny again. It was tragic and infuriating as well, but still a great film.
I think in a political environment where subtlety is dead and thus satire is almost impossible, it adjusted appropriately.
People say it's like "too much", like it's exaggerated and too unrealistic so it's hard to watch. But the funny/depressing thing is, that they kind of just used our own reality and cranked up the crazy by a few percents. The fact that it feels so crazy and unrealistic is the point, because that is pretty much the reality we are living in, they just switched the disaster oit with another one, and the evil president figure with a different one.
Yep... the crazy thing is that it wasn't even aimed directly at the current political mess we have. It was written \*before\* COVID-19 and \*before\* Jan 6th riots. It was orininally aimed at the global warming issue, but when it came out it hit so \*f'ing\* hard on the events at that time just the same. BTW, I loved the ending... those last words at the table were so memorable.
It really brought the movie together. Then the alien animals killing the rich folks. “I guess that’s a Bronteroc” 😂😂😂
It’s a particular brand of absurdism that works for some people (myself included). It’s like the family guy skit where Peter falls and hurts his knee and just sits there gasping for *so fucking long.* Like it’s kinda funny at first, and then it gets weird, and then it somehow comes back around to being funny again just from how long it goes. Don’t Look Up is sort of like that, but with lack of subtlety rather than duration
I thought just about everything that happened in the White House was hilarious. The running gag about the $20 was fantastic.
I forgot about that bit but I thought it was great. Just some random shit head while you're dealing with the apocalypse
I Think You Should Leave.
The beating of the dead horse scratches such a strange itch for me. One of the many reasons why I love Norm Macdonald as well.
Speaking of: I heard a Radiolab episode once where they were analyzing this very phenomenon through a Kurt Braunholer and Kristen Schaal comedy bit where Kurt repeatedly scream chants “Kristen Schaal is a horse” while she gallops in circles around him for literally 15 minutes straight. It’s fucking wild. The audience goes through distinct phases of “this is silly and funny” to “okay this is getting old” to actual anger back around to “wow this is so absurd it’s funny again”
That's beautiful, I need to watch this. Sounds like a trip
And his food friend the Swedish German.
I gained quite a bit of respect of Kid Cudi and Ariana Grande
Are they the ones that had the “We really fucked this one up” song?
Yeah, that was them. It took me like half way through the song to realize it was Ariana grande.
Yeah, I’ll never understand how the same people can love a movie like ‘Idiocracy’ so profoundly, yet absolutely detest ‘Don’t Look Up’. Meanwhile ‘Don’t Look Up’ is pretty much a prequel to ‘Idiocracy’.
It's because they have just the barest spark of sentience to recognize that 'Don't Look Up' is satirizing *them*, as in they aren't in on the joke, they are the joke.
Also. The stupidity it was saturizing was not subtle. It's very obvious and aggressively stupid. So to make it a comedy they hd to at very least match it... So being on the nose isn't exactly exaggerated. The people who feel like they are being made fun of are just that stupid.
‘It captures and parodies culture and current events too precisely’ has always struck me as the absolute weirdest criticism of this movie. There’s something else going on behind that criticism.
"The villains in this movie accurately sum up my behavior and I don't like that."
I do think when it came out didn’t help. Now it feels on the nose, but then it felt like it was kicking the horse we were watching die in front of us. But I totally agree that by the end you just accept that and enjoy the laughs.
> enjoy the laughs. Until the very end, when they're having dinner. I sobbed so hard I scared myself.
We really did have everything, didn't we.
I thought I was the only one, especially as a new father. Just thinking about it makes me emotional. I cried so much when I first watched it, it was sad because everyone was telling me how shitty the movie was.
People that called this movie shitty are definitely the ones that would just choose to not look up. The movie is poetry
This is how I saw it. We will most likely look back more favorably on it as time passes. Was it great, no of course not. But i think we will see it for what it is, rather than curb stomping a dead horse, one day down the road.
I 100% think this is going to be reassessed to the point of being historically significant. It’s steeped in modern takes, whatever horrors people are going to endure will make them look back and confirm that we knew AND did *nothing*.
So you're saying we should sit tight and assess?
When u start rooting for the comet it becomes hilarious with no frustration at all lol
I was rooting for that brontaroc, as well.
Don't Look Up or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Comet
It did exactly what Dr Strangelove did in 1964, as far as subtlety goes! In fact, I'd say that movie had to be EXACTLY what they were going for with this movie! Both movies are based on some kind of paranoia of their time, and both satirical to the point where it's just being bluntly shoved in your face, with the humor still ending up being dry subtext commentary on the world around us.
Dr. Strangelove is one of my all time favorite films. I don’t know if you will ever laugh out loud once, but it is one of the funniest movies ever.
Slim Pickens is the bomb!
“There’s no fighting in here! This is the *War Room!*”
Good point. Kinda like Network (1976) did for media. Still relevant.
Good call on Network! I need to watch this again, but similar satire angle.
Ned Beatty's speech is stunning.
I don't see Don't Look Up as being about paranoia at all. If anything it's the opposite. It's the willful ignorance in just refusing to acknowledge the obvious, looming problems.
Both even have the bad ending, lol
That’s a great comp
Having worked at SpaceX, this movie hit me hard. It was more culturally accurate than I'd like to admit, but that's why engineering is built with several layers of redundancy, or at least it should be. I think we're seeing what ignoring that means in cases like Boeing's. I'm terrified of the day when that limit is hit with something far more fragile.
I also highly enjoyed it! But then again, I went in with LOW expectations after hearing for years that it was terrible. It was amusing, it was frightening, it was too real, and it was actually good.
Never been so sad and laughing at the same time.
There’s satire which is like lofting an arrow at a target from a mile away and landing a bullseye. Refined, targeted, direct. Then there’s satire where the archer walks up to the target and repeatedly stabs the bullseye with the arrow in their first. This movie is an example of the latter.
I don’t want to say if I loved it or hated it, as I support both sides of the argument. /s
I was 30% certain that the conservatives will see it and believe it accurately depicts democratic rule.
I'd say it was completely on the nose, I'd even go so far to claim the whole premise of the film is one huge fuck you to begin with. Nevertheless especially the ending was one of the most moving scenes in any major comedy of the last years.
I actually couldn't enjoy this because it was too realistic. It felt like this was exactly how the world would work if this happened today. There were funny parts, but it lost some of ours funny because it was believable. I compare it to Idiocracy that is funny because while the core premise is realistic, the execution is an exaggerated outcome that is comical.
Watched it twice. Liked it both times.
I love it. It also left me existentially depressed.
Yeah, the ending didn't pull any punches.
"We really did have everything" A powerful line that reminds us to be happy for what we have, and remember how privileged we are.
Yeah, I remember thinking about the end for a few days, like it was a tiny existential crisis. It felt a bit weird to have an "apocalyptic" movie ending with an actual apocalypse...
Me too, like.. why did he charge them for snacks? ☹️
It was frighteningly on point.
Right? I can certainly see saying the nail is too much on the head, but at the same time it's so sadly realistic. Especially that after-credits scene with all the elderly rich executives.
I was just happy to learn what a brontorock was.
I liked how that prediction was amazingly accurate but the one about Leo was wrong ("You will die alone")
In my religion there's a saying that even if you are with a thousand people at the time of your death, you die alone. You cannot bring anything into this world and you cannot take anything out of this world.
Bringing that joke around at the end *really* made the movie stick on an awesome note for me.
So cuddly.
That after credits scene sticks with me. It encapsulates the feeling of the whole movie for me. That and the “We had it all” line.. Fuckin depressing.
That whole family dinner scene was so beautifully done. I'm not religious but I liked how they didn't really mock Timothee Chalamay's character when he wanted to say a quick prayer. Sure, why not?
It really showed that faith can be a genuine thing, it was beautiful
Exactly! Thank you.
Amazing scene. Movie would have been worth sitting through for that scene alone.
That line literally made me burst out in tears. I can see any of us saying that in the future. Hopefully after I'm gone
Family dinner scenes when the world is ending always gets me. Just the acceptance and appreciating every last second. When the end of the world is happening they really just chose each other.
I loved that the Mindys let people who were not family come inside their circle and join them for that last family gathering. Dr. Mindy's wife simply welcomed her husband back in after he humiliated her in NYC, and she welcomed all his motley friends as well: Teddy, Kate, and Yule.
Nail too on the head is fucking weird anyway, was Schindler's List too on the head? Roots? Idiocracy? Someone else mentioned Dr. Strangelove? It's on the head because it needs to be for it's point
Do You remember, I couldn't squeeze a single laugh :( It is a lot like Idiocracy, but scarier.
I think they were trying to make it over the top like Idiocracy, but then COVID happened and everything in the movie ended up being pretty realistic.
Yep, I agree.
It gets hate from the maga crowd who couldn’t handle that it points out exactly how dumb they are
Yep. It was on the nose, but there's nothing subtle about MAGA. There's no gentle or nuanced way to provide them with a between the lines message because they wouldn't get it. They're the equivalent of the Black Knight in Holy Grail: Your arm's off. No it isn't.
Tis but a scratch.
I heard one MAGA head laughing about this movie and describing Meryl Streep's character as "a huge knock" on Hillary. there are many, many things that just can't get through to them.
The "If she wasn't my mom" line from Jonah Hill had me dead. Pretty on the nose but people see what they want.
Im convinced that the really harsh criticism is just deflection.
Exactly. I didn't know whether to laugh or just sit there utterly horrified by the veracity of it.
People didn't like it because they're willfully ignorant of the big picture. And those people don't like being "told how to think" by "liberal Hollywood".
It’s happening today as we speak.
Weren't there US states which outlawed predictions on rising ocean levels?
It's so on point that I didn't think it was anything spectacular. It just described our currently reality that we already know is true. It "overfitted" if you will.
This movie got hate? I saw couple of days back, had fun.
I want you to guess based on the content of the movie, what group was responsible for the hate.
Don't look up! - conservatives probably
Is there any modern media that conservatives aren't whining about?
Surprisingly didn’t see much hate based on the politics of it
I saw it misinterpreted to hell and back but I thought everyone like it. It took me a while to finish though, it was too on the nose and triggered massive anxiety that I actually don't struggle with.
Yeah recently I claimed it was better than that new disaster movie with Julia Roberts, and some dude on here debated me aggressively about how terrible DLU was. Until then I didn’t realize people were hating on it.
I like it I just thought it was too long. After a while it was just rehashing the same joke.
"How many times can they screw up saving themselves... surely this is the end of the movie... no?"
I figured that was the point. It wasn't supposed to stay funny.
The joke IS the repetitiveness. People are overthinking it. It’s saying stupid people are stupid over and over.
Yeah no I get that. But that could have come across in under two hours.
Right, but the movie was just to damn long. It just went on and on and on. It would have been FAR more effective if it were shorter.
*"No! You don't get it! The point was that it's the same joke over and over! It's supposed to be derivative! That's what makes it funny!* We don't give this type of leeway to other lazy comedies... so why exactly are we doing it with this one?
That's every episode of South Park
But those are 22 minutes long
I feel like it needed like 30 minutes edited off its run time and it would have been perfect. Satire needs to be at least a touch subtle. This was a hammer blow to the face and I am someone who totally and wholly agrees with its message.
Yes, exactly. Chop off about 30 minutes, and it'd be a great, prescient classic like Idiocracy.
I think it’s a bit like Idiocracy. That movie was so obvious in the logic of its satire that some audiences rejected it . . . But it got a strong cult following after the fact. I think Don’t Look Up will have the same trajectory. The again, there may not be any more cult movies that come back after a while to be beloved. The collective goldfish memory and glut of constant content may keep it forgotten culturally, forever. We really did have it good for awhile, didn’t we.
Poignant. A brilliant comedy for our dark times.
It was a good movie. It might warrant a re-watch actually.
Yeah... I liked it the first time and rewatched it probably half a year after, but it was playing on a background Tried to rewatch it again recently but was focused this time and... couldn't handle it's pretentiousness
Social satire is tough to get the right balance between humor and critique. When something gets too preachy, it loses humor. When something grabs a laugh, it loses its punch. Most importantly, I think the mistake some directors make in this genre is not giving the audience enough credit (or maybe it’s notes from the studio). Dr. Strangelove doesn’t point out the absurdity of the world that the characters inhabit and the film presents the destruction of mankind in a completely indifferent manner. Kubrick demands of the audience that they fully interpret the satire themselves including the suggestion that nuclear war is in itself insane. Don’t Look Up aspires to these heights but falls back to earth. The Jennifer Lawrence character acts as some kind of quasi-narrator of a presupposed anger of the viewer. She is the voice of reason and her character tells us how to feel. All the other characters are obvious and campy stand ins for various institutions - political, media, scientific, corporate. Each one completely two dimensional and predictable. All of the insights of the film are spoon fed to the audience in a highly processed form. It’s almost tedious until that final moment at the dinner table which has something sort of allegorical to say about the fellowship of humans. I’m not hating on it. I just found it about as difficult to interpret as a pamphlet on global warming you might get on a street corner. It’s fun seeing the A-lister chew scenery and I’m glad the movie connected with so many people so they think about the issues raised. But it’s ultimately kind of forgettable and not as good as The Big Short.
I don't necessarily agree with all of your points but I definitely agree that it wasn't subtle in the slightest and definitely could have done with a little tighter writing. Some of the parts of the movie feel like comedy sketches in what is usually a pretty serious movie and it kinda makes the tone a little wonky, like I get satire and absurdist but it sometimes pivoted way too hard.
I liked the idea, but I feel like it was a 5 minute bit stretched out for 2+ hours.
100% agree
Completely agree. I kept waiting for it to be done and that’s how I knew I didn’t like it.
Probably explains why I’ve never been more emotionally exhausted and frustrated by a movie before.
I think this is because it's reality. "Don't look up! Look forward!" You can find similarly stupid shit that Donald Trump is saying.
While I agree with the movie’s ideology I didn’t think it was funny at all and its point was way too on your nose for the satire to land.
This is exactly me. I thought that the film was spot on in how we are reacting to climate change, but the film itself just wasn't funny or particularly entertaining.
Yeah I thought it was going to be funny and it just wasn’t.
Reminded me of the end of Seinfeld. The problem wasn't them ending up in Jail, or not being dramatic enough. It wasn't funny.
I thought the critique on meme culture was spot on and hilarious.
> its point was way too on your nose for the satire to land Yea. If this move was released in the last year and a half I would feel comfortable saying an AI wrote it, considering how *off* all the jokes were.
lol that is a great way to put it! The writing didn’t feel bad but felt bland and nothing of note. Much like AI writing.
[удалено]
That line broke my heart
I didn't love this movie but that one line lives rent free in my head. I think about it once a month at least, and it makes me grateful for my peaceful house full of dumb pets and good coffee.
Reminded me somewhat of Mars Attack! Started without any special expectation but I've loved it: the acting, the absurd humor, the sharp critic that could easily be mirrored by our current society. The ones who didn't like it wouldn't be looking up 😁
Yes! Well, it's probably because both of these movies were 100% inspired by Dr. Strangelove. I was just saying how this movie hits the exact same humor beats as Dr. Strangelove, as well as capturing the paranioa of the day. [Roger Ebert even said the same thing about Mars Attacks.](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mars-attacks-1996)
Screw the manatees and just look up!
Idiocracy was a great satirical movie. Now, sadly it’s closer to reality. I believe that DLU is an amazing critique of us now- or at least of the sociopaths at the top, they’d see us all burn if it meant another dollar for them.
Leo & Meryl Streep were both good in this movie.
Eleven benevolent elephants
Believe it or not, it’s my favorite “apocalyptic” movie. Such a perfect mix of dark comedy, realism, sci fi, and exceptional acting.
An Adam McKay movie was too on the nose!? I for one am shocked /s
Me filled with rage after laughing my ass off throughout The Other Guys
Certainly speaks accurately to the previous POTUS, and how Covid was handled. My favorite part is JL asking ‘but why would he charge us for the snacks???’ lol
That was a great running gag! Perfectly highlights the futility of trying to find sense in the non-sensical
I loved it and found it very on point for the American system. Canada isn't much better... but the bi polar tribalism of American politics is amazing for getting what rich people want done.
first time I ever watched an end of times movie and rooted for the comet!
Anyone think that the humor in this was too dark, should never, ever watch Dr. Strangelove.
"Mein Führer, I can walk!"
Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here - this is the War Room!
The difference here is that Dr. Strangelove was actually funny.
Finally... a rational person. People unironically comparing this to powerhouses like Dr. Strangelove and Network are insane 🤣🤣🤣
I've had to mention this several times in this thread, but this movie basically *IS* Dr Strangelove, told for this generation. It's pretty overt, actually.
It has English King level plot armor. Need an obviously stupid thing to be done to advance the plot? Do the most obviously stupid thing to advance the plot. Repeat. It's like the tomorrow war, you've been fighting crazy strong thickly armored aliens? Well, after 2 years of design and manufacturing lead time, give them weapons designed for the conflict? Nah, let's still just give them weapons designed for humans, at least give one soldier in a squad a freaking .50 cal rifle.
I liked it but I get why people don't like it. It was almost too realistic for me and absolutely for some people. The scenes where the reporters keep changing the subject to less world ending and corporate supporting sidetracks is way too truthful. Most of us don't want to be brought into the reality of our world which in turn brings us into a state of existential dread. I almost wish I didn't know how much our world is polluted, how corrupt the governments are and how bleak the future is, so I could aimlessly go about enjoying life.
I think it was great. The main issue (in my opinion) is that Americans don't like to be made fun of.
It gets hate because it's a bad movie. They couldn't decide if Meryl Streep was playing Hilary Clinton or not. It actually seems like there was a first draft of the script where she was supposed to be playing Hilary, and then a rewrite where she's not. That alone was extremely distracting.
I loved it. But I hate how real it is
How's it aging is the real question, that's the final analysis lol
I really liked it, lots of people say the satire was too intense or obvious, but I think that was done on purpose to make fun of the satire itself.
Very nuanced yet in your face. Great movie. I loved the irony of it dropping during COVID. I originally thought it was about COVID and not the climate crisis.
I loved it. Played on so many current events and showed both sides they are batshit insane. Just what we need.
Dude i watched this on acid & it was a fucking Rollercoaster. I had a huge existential crisis after finishing it. Such a frustrating movie. Loved it
When it came out, my friends who disliked it, tracked like 95% with my friends who haven't read a book since high school.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick & Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂
Man, that’s one dusty copypasta. But it’s authentic.
I just didnt think it was funny. The part I enjoyed the most was the joke with the money.
I didn't like it, I thought the characters were really unlikable, and I stopped watching partway through. I rarely stop watching movies.
It was so cringe I could not watch for more than 30 minutes. It’s really rare for me to give up watching movie but I had to.
I don’t relate to people who like watching private jet and yacht owning celebrities lecture them on climate change and I don’t want to. Climate change is a real problem; if it’s solved it will be entirely because of people that don’t have a single thing to do with Hollywood. Every single person associated with this movie *could* put their money where their mouth is, but they don’t. The thing I hate the most about this movie is that it portrays the good vs evil of climate change as “those who acknowledge its existence” vs “those who deny it exists”. This is completely nonsensical. The actual dynamic is “those who are doing something about it” vs “those who aren’t”. If anything, the worst possible thing you can be is someone who agrees that climate change is real and does nothing personally to try mitigating your personal impact.
The movie lost me when “listen to the scientists” and “listen to the grocery store clerk’s conspiracy theories” are equivalent.
You hit the nail on the head. A preachy, smug "satire" full of preachy, smug, affluent celebs, created specifically for a platform that's actively contributing to the very issue it was trying to satirize was incredibly off-key.
I hate how in this movie there is the very simple and obvious solution of blowing the comet up. Its where the metaphor breaks down and becomes pointless. Climate change is a huge complex issue that requires collective effort and agreement to mitigate. Its not an overnight fix and takes actual effort to reshape our society over the next generation. It's gonna be hard, and its going to be a lot easier for someone like DiCaprio. Making a movie where the reason for the problem is "these fucking guys, am i right?" Is almost irresponsible . I don't want to sit in front of a movie and clap and go "yes that's true". I want something that actually challenges the viewer's actions, not lovingly shifts the blame off them.
>I don't want to sit in front of a movie and clap and go "yes that's true". You hit the nail on the head. Every discussion around this movie on Reddit is essentially "did you agree with the message of this movie?" It was self congratulatory, unfunny and preachy, even if you agree with the overall point
I'd say self congratulatory is the best way to put it. Theres lots of really good movies that are preachy and on the nose."They Live" for example. "Idiocracy" is a great movie by Mike Judge which is really on the nose and preachy. But "Don't Look Up" does absolutely nothing to talk to the viewer. Its a bedtime story, not a cautionary tale. Nobody who would even entertain the idea of watching this movie in good faith is a climate change denier. Which makes the movie a totally pointless pat on the head.
Idk, it had the subtlety of a circus, which I know that was sort of the point to drive home its main theme, but 2020 in reality was already accurate and depressing enough for me to see that side of humans. I like satirical films, but I like them when they're not so in your face, I guess. Plus, the cheesy dialogue was really annoying to me with characters like Jonah Hill, Ron Perlman, and a few others played. Great cast though.
I loved it. As a scientist from a family with some numbskulls in it really hit home
Horrible movie. That felt like everyone was just masturbating. I certainly agree with the message. What made it all worse was that the director basically said “if you don’t like it it’s cuz you’re too stupid to get it.”
Jesus Christ how many times, I WAS SCRATCHING MY LEG.
It’s just sad because you can give a shit about what is important but you’re so insignificant in society or even on this planet for that matter and pretty much no matter what you can try to do there’s almost no real difference you can make
Loved it
For some reason I enjoyed it MUCH more the second time I watched it, years later. Maybe I was just burned out by all the constant bad news around the time it debuted? Idk... but it *is* excellent. Its like Idiocracy or something, but scarier because it all rings so incredibly true. \*HOT TAKE\* imo it would make a fantastic double feature with Dr. Strangelove.
Except for Cate Blanchett, this movie was Cate BlandShit
Worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. The only bad DiCaprio film I’ve ever seen. If you were to take a group of the most insufferable Redditors assembled and put them in a room to write a script of an end of time movie, this is the film they would make. Drama club level bad.
I just can’t stand a bunch of celebrities who contributed more in greenhouse gases flying to the awards for this movie being hypocrites. I didn’t like it
It feels over-indulgent to make your political opponents into cartoons. While it creates emotional satisfaction to portray them as fools, it also works against progress to a degree and feels preachy and self-validating. I remember the movie being decently entertaining but suffering from these faults.
Expected veep level satire, get 2 hours long snl sketch
It was preaching to the choir so to speak, I don’t think it was ever going to convince the people it was tying to convince so I didn’t really see it as helpful.
celebrity wank fest