Some of director Adam McKay’s movies have kept me laughing throughout. His comedies like Anchorman, The Other Guys, and Step Brothers come to mind. And his directing also impressed me in serious films like Vice and The Big Short. But this time, McKay combines comedy and drama in Don’t Look Up, a timely satire about how and why scientific facts get lost even though ignoring them involves the destruction of our world.

And what a cast he selected! Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, Ron Perlman and Meryl Streep all deliver excellent – and sometimes surprising – performances.

Jennifer Lawrence plays a Ph. D. candidate in astronomy who discovers a comet moving toward the Earth. She reports it to her professor, portrayed by DiCaprio. The scary thing about this comet is that it will crash into our planet in seven months. But when these two out-of-their-league astronomers try to get the word out as quickly as possible, ridiculous obstacles stand in their way. When they finally have a few minutes with the President of the USA (Meryl Streep in top comic form), she’s too busy worrying about mid-term elections to pay attention. Then they obtain T.V. time, but the co-hosts (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) don’t want to hear anything that might frighten their listeners. It appears that what’s happening with a pop singer (Ariana Grande) is more important than real news.                 

When the disaster gets closer, the government does come up with a silly plan involving Ron Perlman’s character, but a tech billionaire (an unrecognizable but wonderful Mark Rylance) crashes the party. 

Comet heading to planet Earth.

A strange topic for movie mirth.

But “Don’t Look Up” takes a big dare

and earns attention that seems fair.

Not all funny, as satires are.

Drama parts also up to par.

And actors get into their parts

while slinging extra-sharpened darts.

    Government and the T.V. news

don’t treat the facts, just cause the blues

  for poor professor and student

 who want action from President.

 Can you handle a film like this?

If so, it’s one you should not miss.

It’s no surprise that director/writer McKay’s comet heading to our planet Earth is a metaphor for climate change. Or one could toss in the current pandemic with all its variants. 

According to “Variety,” McKay wanted to create a blend where “absurdist, ridiculous comedy lives right next to sadness.” 

With Don’t Look Up, his mission is accomplished.  

(Released by Netflix and rated “R” by MPAA.)