Netflix’s Don’t Look Up has proven unpopular on the review site “Rotten Tomatoes.” It has had mixed reviews at National Review where Kevin Williamson liked it, Kyle Smith hated it, and Ross Douthat found its satirical elements unconvincing.
Written by Adam McKay, the star-studded movie tells the story of an obscure midwestern astronomer (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Ph.D. student (Jennifer Lawrence) who discover a planet-ending comet hurtling toward earth, and go on an ultimately unsuccessful media tour to warn the world and spur politicians into action.
I agree with Ross that it was not a particularly good allegory for climate change and that it was also a weak satire of institutional liberalism. Still, for a whole 145 minutes, the movie held my attention. In part, that’s because there were wryly entertaining — if also depressingly accurate — depictions of ignorance, incompetence, and corruption in America’s ruling class. But my interest was also sustained by the movie’s materialist and nihilistic assumptions.
