Don't Look Up * * * ½

A film about astronomers with more stars on the screen than in the heavens

Don't Look Up has a huge cast of major stars.  Too many to mention. Look them up yourself.  I'm not sure how the producers managed to get them all together, but they did. And they are all good fun too; happy to take the unglamorous role of a character filled with flaws.  But it would take more than the good will of major stars being self deprecating to make this work.

The world being on the eve of destruction is hardly a new idea, it's just that in this case it becomes highly analogous to Trump and Covid19 and other topical issues.  Basically a young astronomer discovers a comet. Very exciting, until they realise how big it is and that it is heading straight for planet earth, and that it will wipe us out as surely as dinosaurs.

Cut to The White House and a whack-job president in denial and doesn't seem to understand that some things can't be kept under wraps.  Then we meet an eccentric entrepreneur (think Elon Musk and Steve Job combined) who believes he can fix it. 

The Armed Forces think they can fix it by bringing an old astronaut out of retirement. 

Meanwhile The young astronomer and her supervising professor try to get the word out there on a morning chat show, where nothing is taken seriously by the "charming" hosts.  Out on the streets there are the deniers.  They are soon followed by the inevitable rioters, looters and mad preachers.

There are times when it is very funny but for the most part it would have served itself better with a little more restraint.  It can be very heavy handed at times.  Nevertheless the final scenes when our heroes have to face reality is dealt with beautifully and really is quite moving.