CYNISM COUPLED WITH COSMIC FARCE DOES NOT A SATIRE MAKE

Photo credit: Netflix. 


 

There seems to be a lot of rave reviews regarding how wonderful this piece of pretend satire is and I can’t help but wonder why that is, especially when you consider the amount of gloom and doom that saturated the media during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, and how none of all that drama was even replicated here. The failure to exploit the range of political excesses displayed across different camps makes it hard to find reenactments of right-wing, political figures rejecting science, and ignorant celebrities milking political causes for clout, (which this film is mainly about) funny for long. 

Satires are intelligent but this 2021 film by writer/director, Adam Mckay in my opinion, was just an unoriginal farce greatly inspired by MAGA, America’s right-wing politics during the coronavirus pandemic and the general American middleclass society’s obsession with capitalism. Only this time, it pitches as a replacement, the gloomy story of a scientist’s discovery of the world facing possible annihilation by the impact of a giant comet if something isn’t done quickly by (rolls eyes) the American government to save the day. 

 It took me 3 viewings to be able to get through this one because I couldn’t stand one of the main characters, Jennifer Lawrence’s Kate Dibiasky’s hysterics, neither could I find her sympathetic in the beginning. Even though I could see how she was supposed to be a representation for the sane majority in a world on the edge of extinction. Her constant yelling was grating and her outbursts were ridiculous. Although, I do not think the character deserved to be ridiculed all over the internet for her actions, the writers’ scored points on believability with the public backlash she receives, if we are to judge by how mean modern day social media users usually are.  

Photo credit: Netflix. 

 This is a star studded film, and I believe that this beautiful ensemble is somehow responsible for the public rave, and what made me sit through the tedious 1st hour until the better parts of the remaining 1hr 15 minutes, where most of the characters actually begin to act less hysterically, and the story started to progress. 

Ironically, Meryl shines as the funniest character in this film. Seeing as her character parodies Trump, a former American president who publicly criticized her acting skills in a fruitless attempt to ridicule her.  Mr. DiCaprio’s more grounded approach to his character’s portrayal is also commendable. The barely ageing Cate and Tyler Perry were decent, Mark Rylance’s pastiche of current world’s richest innovators, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk, was laughable. Jonah Hill was sad, and the rest of the cast including Rob Morgan and Timothee Chalamet did their best with the material they were handed. The CGI and cinematography were decent, nothing out of the ordinary.

If you are yet to make up your mind to see this, by all means, go ahead because it's currently culturally relevant. Just know not to expect too much as it is quite forgettable in the end. 


                                                                    written by God'sownM

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