"This is not real. This is not real. This isn't happening. Kate, tell me this isn't really happening."
A bleak satire about a comet about wipe out life on Earth which is really an allegory for the government's apathy towards climate change which will really wipe out humanity? Gee, thanks Netflix, merry Christmas to you too.
The basic premise of this is sound. PHD student Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a new comet and Dr. Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) calculates that it is going to hit Earth and wipe out all life. They head to meet President Orlean (Meryl Streep) who tells them to sit tight and assess and the pair become increasingly frustrated about the lack of action.
The film's biggest problem is that it's interesting premise doesn't really do much. It gently parodies politicians, especially the Trump administration (though they could make fun of themselves) as well as the media and global tech firms. It just felt to me that none of this was done especially well. There are moments which are funny but it all feels very surface level. Like I said, it's hard to parody US politics when nothing is more absurd than what has actually happened in the last few years. Several animated films, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines and Ron's Gone Wrong, have more successfully made fun of tech billionaires this year. It just feels like a half-hearted effort.
Like other Adam McKay films the cast is very starry but few of the actors really shine. It's not exactly DiCaprio or Lawrence's finest hour, Meryl Streep's President is actually quite bland and Jonah Hill's Trump Jr parody is more annoying than funny. At least Mark Rylance is superb as tech billionaire Peter Isherwell, combining Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and the uncanniness of Mark Zuckerberg.
I liked the final section best when it actually became less of a satire as Kate and Dr. Mindy are no longer working with the government and have given up that life will be saved. It's weird that actually the final few minutes of the film make for an a compelling drama about people quietly gathered together waiting for the end of the world, although my goodness it's bleak.
Of course, this is supposed to be a parody with the way the US deals with climate change but I don't think it even really works that well for that. The scenarios are very different with one administration having six months to deal with the comet compared to the failures of many administrations dealing with the threat of climate change. It's also ridiculous that this film, other than a few bits of dialogue, ignores the rest of the world, as if it has the attitude that only America can fix things. Indeed, seeing the US interact with the administrations of China and India would be far more relevant to climate change.
The idea is sound but for me at least it failed to be as satirically funny or clever as it ought to have been. I could have watched a thirty second clip of Adam McKay telling us that the government is failing us and I would have got just as much out of it.
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