Adam McKay says the Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio-starring satire resonates with a widespread feeling of being deceived by government and media
Adam McKay says the Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio-starring satire resonates with a widespread feeling of being deceived by government and media
Yes, it is a compliment to the movie. It's mostly Climate Change for me, as I live in a coast area where we already suffered all sorts of things because of it. But it seems there is little can be done to stop those who chose to ignore the evidences.
Edit: And sorry for my English if I haven't explant myself better. It is far from my first language.
The metaphor was as subtle as a club to the forehead
Count me in as someone who missed the club to the forehead. I enjoyed the whole movie, then said to my wife "wow they really went hard on drawing all those parallels to COVID."
My wife nicely informed me that the movie was actually about climate change.
I thought it was a critique of american idiosincracy, while the world ending crisis is an analogy to climate change imo the main point of the movie is that the US is run by self-interested idiotas.
My problem with the movie is that they're obviously referencing the republicans when both parties do the same and that the movie is way too "white man burden" coded.
That's my issue with the movie. People who don't believe in climate change aren't going to have their mind changed by a club, but need to be tricked with something subtle. Nothing entrenches someone deeper into their views then calling someone an idiot or telling them they're wrong. The movie represents everything that's wrong with how progressives and the "liberal elite" like McKay try and convince people to come to their side. If anything, this movie probably just furthered the divide. Having Leo in it probably didn't help, conservatives love to point out the hypocrisy of his private jet and yacht.
I say this as someone who worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign and have talked to him about how to change non-progressives minds, although I'm not sure he's made much progress either. Maybe a little more than McKay.
So who is this movie for, if not to sway climate deniers? If it was really intended to let a liberal audience grandstand and circlejerk about how they're so much smarter then everyone else (which I'm not denying), then I guess it did a pretty good job of that.
Edit: full disclosure as a movie also didn't enjoy it, jokes were kinda too on the nose. Also just felt and looked like a Netflix movie, kinda plastic. Idiocracy was way funnier.
I don't think it's made to change anyone's mind. It's made for people who recognize the issue and are angry at the lack of progress. It's just a but of funny stress relief for those people, while also saying "yes, it's and issue and it sucks." It's a "preaching to the choir" movie, and the choir appreciates being preached to sometimes.
I didn't really know what it was about, and I watched it shortly after the November elections. I thought it was funny, but did I ever pick a bad time to watch it. It lost a lot of the overall joke feeling and while still farcical, now it's a little too close to reality.
I found it difficult to watch when i did due to the situation, maybe not right in covid but not out of it either. As depressing as it made me feel at points (girlfriends choice of movie so had to sit through it but we alternate so only fair) I found it amusing that while plainly satire the actual dialogue and actions were pretty much what at least one democratically elected administration showed during a huge crisis. If it aired 10 years previous it'd probably be in the bin of crappy spoof movies for being so ridiculous and maybe get a cult folowing, yet it was practically a documentary with the situation changed.
I can understand not feeling comfortable due to the triggering in it though, it wasn't exactly a fun watch even if it was a comedy.
Oh I'm disgusted by that behaviour irl, so i'm disgusted by it on screen. I do not think i'm the target audience for this film, i consider climate deniers to be traitors against humanity
When your movie is on the frontpage of Netflix with a handful of A listers and effectively "free", a half billion views is actually not that great. You were handed success on a silver platter.
But on the other hand I don't think it's entirely fair to dismiss a number that high. I think it kind of reads like a film most people wouldn't necessarily watch if they viewed any info about it before watching it
What is up with that??? Lately I find myself aligning a lot more with audience scores. Movies that critics are rating high leave no impression on me anymore and I'm an obsessed movie watcher.
It seems like critics are turning more and more inward, and what they appreciate is increasingly esoteric. So the stuff they like is less accessible to the unwashed masses like myself because if you're not staying up to date on the latest and greatest trends in the medium, it doesn't make sense why they rate something so highly.
For real though, film critics are largely useless these days. It's like they can't tell the difference between a film made for Cannes and a film made for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Not everything needs to be deep and meaningful on a personal level. Films shouldn't be penalized for not being something they were never intended to be.
People who are convinced Climate change is a thing, don't need this kind of movies to act. People who are convinced Climate change is a hoax took this movie like an insult to their kind. You need to be a better storyteller if you're going to convince people are in the wrong, according to you, about something, otherwise they feel attacked
Fair, but I think there's still value in satire like this even if it doesn't achieve the goal of convincing the other side. It kinda serves to point at the absurdity from a fresh perspective
You need to be a better storyteller if you’re going to convince people are in the wrong, according to you, about something, otherwise they feel attacked
or perhaps they should be better, more informed consumers?
like, at some point people should be responsible for their own stupidity and self delusions.
I only saw it cause it got a Oscar nomination and agree with the critics on this one.
It all felt a little off, like it was trying to be too many things at once. It jumped back and forth between what felt like parody/comedy/drama to the point it failed to do any particularly well. Or maybe it was a little too surreal to pull off the seriousness of the topic.
The vibe that I feel McKay was going for is the Simpsons meme with Ralph on the bus chuckling about being in danger. It feels like a dramedy, but so close to reality that you can't help but have that reaction. It's not necessarily a call to action, just a hey wake up and see how close we are to this shit.