# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/101 "2021-12-30T17:04:46Z")
What about this was unsubtle? What rose above the hum-drum of every day status quo in a way that made it “hitting people over the head with a sledgehammer” as CairoCarol called it (given that it’s far from a perfectly executed movie and there are some scenes and characters that fail)? I hate this phrase, but when “calling it like it is” is criticized as being too over-the-top, well that’s exactly one of the perspectives that lead us to tragedy, and that the film points out. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/102 "2021-12-30T17:07:24Z")
I almost wondered how much of the script could’ve been culled from the media. The way many have observed in recent years that, “If you wrote this as fiction, no one would believe you.” So I’m not sure how that fits in with the “insufficiently subtle” or “hit over the head” camps. Very little in this movie that we haven’t seen played out IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/103 "2021-12-30T17:17:29Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Very little in this movie that we haven’t seen played out IRL. We haven’t _quite_ got to the “President sending genital pictures” point yet but it’s now firmly in the range of plausibility, especially considering the various Congressional scandals. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/104 "2021-12-30T17:29:38Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I almost wondered how much of the script could’ve been culled from the media. The way many have observed in recent years that, “If you wrote this as fiction, no one would believe you.” > > So I’m not sure how that fits in with the “insufficiently subtle” or “hit over the head” camps. Very little in this movie that we haven’t seen played out IRL. They could almost have taken a page from _South Park_ and flashed captions saying “THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED” or “THIS GROUP ACTUALLY BELIEVES THIS” every five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/105 "2021-12-30T17:36:24Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > They could almost have taken a page from _South Park_ and flashed captions saying “THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED” or “THIS GROUP ACTUALLY BELIEVES THIS” every five minutes I guess it would have been more realistic if in two places across the country Orleans supporters were chanting “DON’T LOOK UP” and “JUST LOOK UP” at the same time, in homage to “COUNT THE VOTES”/“STOP THE COUNT”. Yet another way that reality was actually far stranger than this movie. ---
**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 30, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/106 "2021-12-30T17:41:04Z")
Wasn’t there a title card early that the NASA [Planetary Defense Coordination Office](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Defense_Coordination_Office) was real? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/107 "2021-12-30T17:48:41Z")
I forgot about that. I think the caption was referring to the goofy patch which was less believable than almost anything else in the film. “Here to observe the day”. Saving the day is somebody else’s problem. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/108 "2021-12-30T18:26:13Z")
I didn’t go back and look but wasn’t BASH listed as the production company or something in the opening credits? Overall, I thought it was a 7+.Too long but I stayed up past my bed time because I wanted to see the impact portrayed. Not too bad as these things go. Personally, I think I’d have to go outside and watch. I took Streep to represent Trump but I could see how others think differently. Much of it didn’t make logical sense bit its not intended to be serious. Is there any significance to the number 22,700? Seems like a rather unusually number specific. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/109 "2021-12-30T18:32:06Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > I didn’t go back and look but wasn’t BASH listed as the production company or something in the opening credits? Yes, it was- I noticed that too ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/110 "2021-12-30T20:17:01Z")
I disliked it not because of any message it may have had and whether that was too close to reality or whatever. I disliked it because as a comedy it wasn’t funny and as a drama it was silly. It tried to have it all and utterly failed. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/111 "2021-12-30T20:28:37Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Is there any significance to the number 22,700? Seems like a rather unusually number specific. I think it’s specific enough to be funny without being so specific as to be stupid. It’s a subtle distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/112 "2021-12-30T20:52:42Z")
OK, let’s ask the Teeming MillionsTM _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/112))_ ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/113 "2021-12-31T02:36:51Z")
My husband liked it better than I did, but he pointed out a real missed opportunity. When the denialists at the “don’t look up” rally finally see the comet, why didn’t they see it in the reflecting pool they were gathered around, while looking down? After all that, they just look up anyway? C’mon! ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/114 "2021-12-31T11:51:58Z")
I really want #justlookup to become a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/115 "2021-12-31T13:49:30Z")
Was it intentional or coincidence that Meryl Streep’s character had the same last name as her character in “Adaptation”? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/116 "2021-12-31T22:38:25Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > But the premise of this movie is that political division, anti-intellectualism, social media distractions, and hero worship could lead to the extinction of the human race. At a different time, say when Idiocracy was produced, that could come off as more of a darkly humorous what-if. Given the times we are currently living through, though, that hits a lot closer to home and feels a bit too real to be funny. It’s kind of just sad. Which makes it no less important to me as satire (like, say, The Masque of the Red Death), but it’s definitely more of a bitter pill to swallow for a general audience. This sums it up for me. I liked it, I got it on the level it was intended. I didn’t laugh so much as grimly chuckled. It was not biting satire, it was not wacky comedy, it was an alternative reality barely changed from the truth we are all currently living through, and was about both Covid and Climate Change at the same time, and more besides. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/117 "2022-01-02T16:39:30Z")
I watched it last night and really enjoyed it. I made sure to avoid spoilers or commentary before viewing so I pretty much saw it cold. If I had thought it was about Climate Change or COVID, I would have been disappointed. I thought it was about how vapid the media are. I especially loved banter between the morning show talking heads. I thought that the President was more of a mash up between Trump and BIll Clinton. If those two boys were millennials, there would definitely be dick pics floating around. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/118 "2022-01-02T16:46:21Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I disliked it not because of any message it may have had and whether that was too close to reality or whatever. I disliked it because as a comedy it wasn’t funny and as a drama it was silly. It tried to have it all and utterly failed. I disagree. I do not think it was trying to be anything other than what it was: a mirror only slightly askew. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/119 "2022-01-02T23:00:14Z")
I did quite like the scene of the 2nd meeting with the President where J Lawrence’s character just nails it with ‘so, you’re about to lose the midterms because you got caught sending a picture of your cooch to your porn star boyfriend and now it’s in your best interests to do this?’. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened some tapdancing BS from a politician and thought a similar thing. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737/120 "2022-01-03T01:40:35Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I think the failure rate was something like 60%? And that was better than they expected. Also, one of the few landers burned up. Well, that the ship actually managed to function for over 20K years and navigate to a habitable plant with only a 58% fatality rate is hugely impressive and a credit to BASH’s scientists & engineers. Less of a credit is that they forgot about mundane stuff like survival equipment or _clothing_. 🤨 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-t-look-up-netflix-film/956737.md?page=7)