# Don’t look up. Netflix film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** netflix, movies\ **Created:** [December 27, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737 "2021-12-27T18:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/1 "2021-12-27T18:21:23Z")
On Netflix right now with an ensemble cast…and fuck me they have hit more than a few raw nerves. I can totally imagine people thinking an asteroid as fake news. Streep is fantastic as the gender swapped Trump. Mark Rylance might as well start talking in a Saffer accent he captures Elon Musk totally. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/2 "2021-12-27T19:22:48Z")
I actually came in here to start a thread on this move myself but my reaction was very different from yours. I am a liberal who is online a lot (but I like t think I am not a “very online liberal”\* if that distinction makes sense) who likes dark comedies and political satire so I am the target audience for this movie 100% and I made it maybe 25 minutes in before I had enough and fast forwarded to see how it ended (it ended badly too). I don’t think I have seen a movie who’s head was more up its own ass than this one and that squandered a good cast like this did. It was not funny and really bad and I was embarrassed that I had suggested to my wife that we watch it. - A “very online liberal” is sort of the left’s equivalent of a “Fox News Conservative” (but not exactly the same). They are people who get all their news from Doomscrolling Twitter but never click through to the articles but are 100% sure they know everything. From what I have seen, they believe this movie is the next coming of “An Inconvenient Truth” which is ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/3 "2021-12-27T20:02:12Z")
I do wish Pearl McKay could have made a cameo as a landlord determined to collect rent despite the obvious. I agree with Leonardo DiCaprio’s disagreement with the gratuitous nudity at the end. Of course Meryl Streep wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t want to, but as the most famous victim of the [Ivy League nude photo](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos) scandal, it somehow doesn’t sit well. I guess the rationale was that old people are ugly and corrupt, and their naked bodies reflect this. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/4 "2021-12-27T20:03:43Z")
I found it to be very funny. A spot-on satire of today’s Fox Fake NewsⒸ world. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/5 "2021-12-27T20:13:07Z")
Yeah, I was not a fan for many of the same reasons @Quimby points out. Also, I felt like it was trying too hard to be Idiocracy. Very disappointed as I am a fan of all the actors involved. You have to be trying really hard to NOT make them funny. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/6 "2021-12-27T20:17:05Z")
Clearly very mixed reactions, much the same as in our house. While having no problems with its politics or the issues it was taking on, I thought it was a very heavy-handed, largely unfunny and predictable satire, and I struggled to go the distance. The acting was pretty good, especially Leonardo di Caprio, but it felt like an old script with some new stuff shoved in to cover off Trumpian excess, and that you didn’t need to bother with incisive or subtle writing because the likely audience was already on your side. I’d be giving it two stars out of five, mainly because I exude generosity and it is Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/7 "2021-12-27T20:17:37Z")
The review in The Guardian pointed out that the metaphor fails in that climate change is happening slowly and the impact won’t be felt (at least not fully) for decades and that’s different from a comet that’s coming in mere months. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/8 "2021-12-27T20:30:19Z")
I too have decided, based on the teasers alone, that this one is not for me. Although I’m normally a big fan of end-of-the-world stories such as this (see: _Lucifer’s Hammer_ and _Forge of God_ books). I guess this one will fail thanks to bad timing. If we were looking back at the Trump / Fox News dominant years in the rear view mirror, maybe we could laugh off an end-of-the-world story with these elements added. But it’s just too soon: we are _still_ contemplating the end of the world due to climate change, or in the more immediate term, the end of American Democracy, thanks in no small part to these very same elements. FWIW, there was an element of disbelief at the scientists messages of “the end of the world is likely coming, because of X, Y and Z” in the book _The Forge of God_ by Greg Bear. There was a memorable comment about people partying down and ignoring the fact that aliens were dancing on the people’s graves. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/9 "2021-12-27T20:59:46Z")
I thought it was just okay. The idea was good but the execution was, I dunno, a little too _self-aware_ (?). It was a weird mashup of _Deep Impact_ and _Mars Attacks!_ …it tried to be a satire and be serious at the the same time, and that didn’t really work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/10 "2021-12-27T21:02:01Z")
The concept is good. Also much of the writing. Not edited well, though. Waaay to long; did we have to watch the whole song by the pop star? And what was the point of the Chalamet character? ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/11 "2021-12-27T21:45:52Z")
As a scientist who works on global health related stuff, this movie was difficult to watch - it hit WAY to close to home. I have personally had conversations with government officials that basically went the way they did in this film. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/12 "2021-12-27T22:04:36Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > …And what was the point of the Chalamet character? Per McKay, he conceptualized “real” religion. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/13 "2021-12-27T22:47:23Z")
I found it bone-dry, tedius, and a good half-hour too long. I think it was _trying_ to be funny? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/14 "2021-12-27T22:49:02Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > From what I have seen, they believe this movie is the next coming of “An Inconvenient Truth” which is ludicrous. I’ve seen it compared to _Idiocracy_. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/15 "2021-12-27T23:02:56Z")
Yes it’s made for the same people who think Idiocracy is super insightful and clever. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/16 "2021-12-27T23:13:52Z")
Well, I did not find Idiocracy particularly insightful or clever. It was at least funny. Much in the same way Beavis and butt-Head was funny. DLU was just bad. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/17 "2021-12-27T23:55:57Z")
Had the same reaction like a lot of you. A lot of satire but then some original stuff put in so you didn’t know if it was riffing on something/someone else or just being original. Was the Streep character a combination of some real life people or just a riff on a generic politician? Was Cate Blanchett supposed to be a Mika Brezinski - Megan Fox hybrid or something else? And why was Mark Rylance recycling his character from Ready Player One? And while I was trying to figure all that out I realized I didn’t really care anyways and wasn’t laughing since nothing was all that funny. I did like the Bronteroc gag that came full circle though. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/18 "2021-12-28T01:39:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@Quimby](#): > > > > From what I have seen, they believe this movie is the next coming of “An Inconvenient Truth” which is ludicrous. > > I’ve seen it compared to _Idiocracy_. There is plenty out there on left wing Twitter about how “Important” this movie is. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/19 "2021-12-28T01:41:10Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Yes it’s made for the same people who think Idiocracy is super insightful and clever. damn right and we enjoyed it ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/20 "2021-12-28T01:48:05Z")
@Hampshire - Cate Blanchett and Tylor Perry were supposed to be typical vapid morning talk show hosts like Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. Streep was clearly a female Donald Trump politician - unqualified, nepotistic, opportunistic, etc Mark Rylance was playing a sort of combination of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel. > [@blondebear](#): > > I thought it was just okay. The idea was good but the execution was, I dunno, a little too _self-aware_ (?). It was a weird mashup of _Deep Impact_ and _Mars Attacks!_ …it tried to be a satire and be serious at the the same time, and that didn’t really work for me. I would say Seeking a Friend for the End of the World meets the literal opposite of Greenland. I found it entertaining for something I watched in bed at 1am. Tonally a bit inconsistent at times. Sometimes it felt like it was going for dry irony, other times more absurd Idiocracy humor. I also feel like it is part of a recent crop of post-Trump films (that also include the new Matrix film) with themes of Americans ignoring reality to the detriment of the planet. The mid credits scene was pretty funny though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737.md?page=2)