Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up is a very divisive film. Audiences all over the world are enthusiastic—it broke records at Netflix by garnering more than 152 million hours of viewership. But the critical response has been much less positive, with most reviews ranging from hostile to lukewarm. If you look on Rotten Tomatoes gathering of reviews, the word that most frequently recurs is “smug.” Other recurring critiques are that the movie is obvious, over-long, and labored.
It’s not uncommon for critics and audiences to disagree, but the polarization over Don’t Look Up seems to have a political edge, given that the movie is a satire of the failure of governments to deal with climate change (by allegorical way of a a comet threatening the earth). In a shrewd move, the filmmakers, most prominently director Adam McKay and co-writer David Sirota, are highlighting the negative reviews as a way to get even more press, in a manner familiar to political disputes.
To sort out the debate, I talked to frequent guest David Klion. In our conversation, we looked at not just Don’t Look Up but also surveyed McKay’s other works, including The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). In discussing McKay’s films and TV work, David and I take up the question of whether there is a tradeoff between making artistically successful political art and winning the largest possible audience for your work.
In Case You Missed It: Teachout on Mencken
By mistake, my post on the death of the critic Terry Teachout didn’t go out to all subscribers. You can read it here.
(Post edited by Emily M. Keeler)
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