Don’t Look Up is, according to this trailer, “based on real events that haven’t happened yet.” In writer-director Adam McKay’s new film, Leonard DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two astronomers—a professor and his grad student—who discover a deadly threat facing the Earth: a planet-killing comet is on a collision course with our home.
But the bigger threat might be humanity itself, as no one seems to care. In the trailer, they face an indifferent president (Meryl Streep); her idiot son (Jonah Hill); a pair of inane TV hosts (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry); and some bros who just want to film themselves with Kate (one bro is played by Timothée Chalamet). Also, Ron Perlman shoots a gun at the comet.
The summary goes into a bit more detail:
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem — it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate. With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry). With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media obsessed public before it’s too late proves shockingly comical — what will it take to get the world to just look up?!
There’s an “lol people are so dumb” tone to this trailer that makes it come across less biting and comic and more just plain cynical—and a little dated, somehow, too. It’s hard to tell if McKay—known for both comedy (Step Brothers) and that movie about Dick Cheney (Vice)—has something to say about this obstinate obliviousness, or is just finding humor in the hopelessness. Which is valid, sure. But also depressing.
Don’t Look Up is in select theaters December 10th, and on Netflix December 24th. Happy Christmas Eve!
