By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Cate Blanchett | Jennifer Lawrence | Jonah Hill | Leonardo DiCaprio | Mark Rylance | Meryl Streep | Rob Morgan | Timothée Chalamet | Tyler Perry
Country: united_states
Year: 2021
Running time: 138
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/reference
Michael says: “This much-hyped, shot in Boston film with big, big names is a little controversial and divisive in its fans and detractors. Count me strongly on the detractor side. It’s click, it’s glossy, it tries so hard, but satire is so difficult, and this one loses its punch because while starving for that extreme absurdity that makes satire work, it sadly comes across a little too much like the life we’re living in now. When PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a rather large comet is headed on a collision course with Earth, she and her research advisor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) realize they have to take this to NASA, where Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) gets them an audience with none other than President Orlean (Meryl Streep) Things don’t go as planned, and the they impress upon President Orlean the danger — this is an extinction level event coming fast at them in 6 months — she is more interested in how this will impact her numbers. Feeling rebuffed by the President, the trio manage to score a spot on one of the popular evening news shows, where the one shining performance (well there are two… more on that later) is found in the character of Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett), the show’s co-host. Suddenly, Dibiasky is painted as a crackpot crying ‘the sky is falling’ and the awkward, Dr. Mindy is the latest nerdy sex symbolk even starting up a torrid affair with Evantee, much to his wife’s (the glorious and underused Melanie Lynskey) dismay. Add in a few more big names, like Jonah Hill, completely unnecessary as President Orlean’s doofus son, and Mark Rylance, completely unrecognizable as a Bill Gates-type spiritual guru/multi-millionaire, Timothée Chalamet as a skateboarding love interest for Dibiasky, and Ariana Grande as… well, a pop star, and you can see how bloated and overloaded this can get. Sadly, it’s all pretty boring and not very funny. Blanchett is hilariously irreverent and nearly unrecognizable as well, as the detestable TV show co-host, and Lynskey is great as a regular woman, raising two sons, who puts up with her milquetoast turned psuedo-celebrity husband. But other than that, my advice, is don’t look at the TV. 2 cats”
Julie says: “I enjoyed it but it does not need to be seen for our purposes. It was dumb but had it’s moments and the similarities to reality were funny and sad at the same time. I did not realize that was Cate Blanchett till the credits! So, I think she did a good job based on that alone. Funny but as to the millionaire I totally thought it was a take on Elon Musk. He was so so Ausberger’s. Yes Melanie Lynskey was great and I liked Timothée Chalamet in his role. There were some funny moments and well won’t ruin it if you do see it. 2 cats is about right maybe 2.5”
Chris says: “At least it’s a better comet-hurtling-towards-Earth ‘comedy’ than HOW IT ENDS, but not by much. 2 cats”
Philip says: “Full disclosure: watched an hour of this and thought I was done, then watched the rest a few days later. I think satire is an important part of our culture and so I am glad this film will be a part of our historical archive. When future generations look back at this time period, they will understand people did speak up and fought back, including artists. Thrilled Netflix shot this out to the masses over the holidays. 3.5 cats”