The ending of Don't Look Up is great, but unfortunately, it couldn't save the movie. Adam Mckay's latest satirical sci-fi romp tells the story of two astronomers, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who attempt to warn the world about an approaching comet that will destroy mankind in six months. The film was immediately met with a divisive critical reception from both professional critics and audiences alike, due to its heavy-handed political messaging and the thinly-veiled climate change allegory that lies at the center of the work - resulting in Don't Look Up's weird Rotten Tomatoes score.

Written and directed by McKay, Don't Look Up ends with a surprisingly nihilistic conclusion. As the plan of President Orlean (played by Meryl Streep) and tech company BASH ultimately fails, the main characters resign themselves to their fate and have one last family dinner, indulging in casual conversation, and desperately avoiding the topic of their impending doom. This scene is a welcome change of pace, contrasting the world-ending apocalypse with an intimate family dinner and stepping away from the film's previously comedic tone for a more sincere emotional climax.

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This final scene is great, but it's too little too late. Adam Mckay's satire of right-wing politics and lampooning of the media industry's role in public discourse is poorly executed. From Jonah Hill's performance as President Orlean's bumbling son/chief of staff to Mark Rylance's creepy tech billionaire, Peter Isherwell, the comedy consistently falls flat - seemingly caught between an aspiration to biting satire on the one hand and lowbrow absurdity on the other. Mckay doesn't seem to know if this film should be an over-the-top farce or a down-to-Earth black comedy. While certain scenes, like the one where the text: "The Planetary Defense Coordination Office is a real place" appears on screen, harken back to Mckay's previous works based on true stories like Vice and The Big Short; other scenes, like DiCaprio and Lawrence's first meeting with the President at the Oval Office, come off as completely unrealistic.

It's a shame to see the talent of Don't Look Up's star-studded cast wasted on McKay's flawed script. While the whole film needn't have been a serious drama, the over-the-top quality of previous scenes, replete with McKay's signature improv, contrasts with the genuinely emotional acting present in that poignant final sequence. In fact, the dinner scene only serves to highlight the emotional authenticity lacking in the preceding two hours of the movie. The jump from absurdist satire to restrained tragedy demonstrates that McKay wanted to have his cake and eat it too, so to speak. The final result is tonal whiplash.

Moreover, the movie doesn't fully commit to its tragic ending. Don't Look Up has two post-credits scenes; one in which the elite few who were able to escape Earth return after 22,740 years, only to be devoured by strange animals; while the second sees Jonah Hill's character emerging from the rubble, seemingly the last man alive on Earth. While both of these scenes are certainly bleak, they end the film on a comedic note which lessens the blow of the film's quasi-Biblical finale and the emotional sincerity of that dinner scene. In short, while Don't Look Up's ending is great, it isn't enough to save the rest of the movie, due to the contrasting tone and lazy satire of the sequences that surround it.

Next: Don’t Look Up: Why Meryl Streep Is Perfect As President