Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, “Don’t Look Up” is an entertaining and regrettably accurate depiction of the modern world and its residents’ stupidity. 

Released to Netflix on Dec. 24, 2021, “Don’t Look Up” follows a PhD student and college astronomy professor, played by Lawrence and DiCaprio, respectively. The pair discover a comet due to hit and destroy Earth and they attempt to spread a warning and find a solution to, quite literally, save the world. The movie portrays a realistic response from the public: nobody listens to the scientists’ plentiful and powerful warnings about the comet, instead trying to come up with their own (terrible) solutions and ideas. 

Though in the movie the world-ending event is a comet, many people think “Don’t Look Up” is sending a message about climate change and COVID-19. The multiple warnings that go unlistened to and the response from the public in the movie match the current climate crisis that people seem all too unworried about. The responses also, unfortunately, match the pandemic that people refuse to take seriously. Using mockery, humor, literal death and an end-of-the-world scenario, “Don’t Look Up” emphasizes just how important it is for everyone to begin taking climate change and COVID-19 seriously, to listen to the experts. 

Aside from Lawrence and DiCaprio, the movie also features Ariana Grande, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep. Grande briefly steals the show with a song she sings about the comet; some of the lines even having been improvised by the actress. Streep gets to play the president in the fictional universe, an airhead with no leadership capability. Chalamet contributes to the satirical nature of the film with his wit and natural entertaining nature. 

“Don’t Look Up” also points out the many flaws of our capitalistic society. As panic and economic inflation ensue in the movie, the rich somehow get richer and even begin planning their survival of the comet. The upper class, however, does not attempt to plan everyone else’s survival, leaving them to die by comet in their survival plan.  

This satirical science fiction movie is one worth watching. Depicting insane yet realistic reactions of people during crisis, the film finds humor in something that should not really be funny. An eye-opening and humorous movie, “Don’t Look Up” is a must-watch.