4 years after its release Adam McKay opens up about critiques hating Don't Look Up

Don’t Look Up starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence is a film directed by director Adam McKay. 4 years after its release Adam McKay opens up about critiques hating Don't Look Up and the severe critiques encircling his satirical comedy film.

The movie on its own is a fascinating allegory for climate emergency, that ignited some polarizing talks about the film.

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Don't Look Up and its criticism:

Don’t Look Up on its own is a fascinating allegory for climate emergency, that ignited some polarizing talks about the film.

Even though the movie stood out to be a global hit with approximately 400-500 million people watching it on Netflix, Don't Look Up has been challenged with a significant amount of hate and backlash from critics and Adam McKay refers to such critics of Don't Look Up as “cultural gatekeepers.”

Critic Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian critics Don't Look Up by saying –

“But Adam McKay’s laboured, self-conscious and unrelaxed satire Don’t Look Up is like a 145-minute Saturday Night Live sketch with neither the brilliant comedy of Succession, which McKay co-produces, nor the seriousness that the subject might otherwise require. It is as if the sheer unthinkability of the crisis can only be contained and represented in self-aware slapstick mode.”

Adam McKay recognized the discordant responses regarding Don't Look Up in a recent interview with NME, emphasizing that while the critics were callous and bitter, the viewers who have watched Don't Look Up from all around the world have deeply felt the themes of the film and what Don't Look Up as a film had been trying to satirically portray.

Don’t Look Up by Adam McKay narrates the tale of two astronomers played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who both tussle to persuade a content public and authorities that are unconcerned about an imminent comet that has been fated to obliterate planet Earth.

Don’t Look Up has a message thrown out about the environment being trivialized, while people and authorities stay in denial and this is what has struck a chord among the audiences.

Adam McKay's film and its popularity:

According to Adam McKay, Don’t Look Up has risen on charts in almost 85 countries, inclusive of various diverse countries like Pakistan, Uruguay, and Vietnam. He quotes in regards to the movie saying -

“It ended up being number one in something like 85 countries, as diverse as Pakistan, Vietnam, U.S., and Uruguay. That’s extremely rare for a comedy which is usually confined by cultural regional reference points.”

No matter the criticism and the backlash faced by the movie, at the end of the day it earned the Best Picture nomination at the esteemed Oscars Awards and also became the 2nd most-watched original film on Netflix’s streaming service platform.

Adam McKay has endorsed the success that Don’t Look Up has gained only to its viewers no matter how the media and the critics have reacted to the film. To this McKay says that -

“Viewers all really connected with the idea of being gaslit. Being lied to by their leaders, lied to by their big news media, and being lied to by industries. It was funny – when I realised that was the common connection point, I was like, of course! It’s happening everywhere now with this global neo-liberal economy that we’re all living in. It’s such a cancer and everyone is feeling it.”

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Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up has left a lasting mark on the viewers who have loved the film regarding climate activities. For McKay, Don't Look Up which has garnered viewership and love from all around the world, negates the criticisms faced by the film by miles and miles leaving the film to be one of Netflix’s most gripping watches.