I do not think the point of this thread is to discuss our personal liking of these movies but just to add another data point to yours, as much as I agree with the message of Idiocracy and found it merely funny, Don't Look Up was a really good movie for me.

It felt so grounded in reality that it took very little creativity to write or think about. Making 1-to-1 comparisons of things and people isn't very interesting. Such thin layers of abstraction don't add much value in media just as they don't in software development. It's basically just cut-and-paste.

It hit too close to home.

Idiocracy was satirical comedy, Don't Look Up is just satire.

DLU didn't know WHAT it wanted to be, so it tried to be both a comedy AND drama. Sucked at both, imo. Great cast. Lousy execution.

Can't for the life of me figure out the appeal.

I mean, sure, people are morons, but everyone everywhere had to be CARTOONISHLY stupid and incompetent in the flick to make the plot work.

That worked for Idiocracy because that was the projected future. A warning.

DLU needs that level of dumb TODAY.

And yes, I lived the last 5 years, and I'm deeply cynical of humanity... but even I thought it was all a bit too much.

It’s interesting that you call the characters cartoonishly stupid, but another poster in this thread characterized the film as “so grounded in reality that it took very little creativity to write or think about. Making 1-to-1 comparisons of things and people”. I have not seen the film yet, so I’m a little curious how opinions could differ so widely.

Can you give an example of something from the film you thought was so cartoonishly stupid?

It’s more like the protagonists are grounded in reality, and the villains are cartoonishly stupid, so there’s some dissonance.

Personally I was okay with it but some of the bits (like the vapid news show or how the titular Don’t Look Up meme comes about) were too much for me.

I would argue that our reality today is even dumber and more hostile in some ways, so I suppose this is a matter of outlook. I was surprised that they didn't have a literal war break out, for example.

Can you describe how you felt it was terrible?

Sure, I guess I was expecting satirical comedy and it was just satire. It wasn’t funny to me and it wasn’t particularly entertaining.

I wasn’t engaged or entertained so I thought it was terrible.

I think Idiocracy was great because it was funny and used the future to allow you to see and imagine how it came to be that way. Don’t Look Up exaggerates the present in a way that feels familiar but misses the mark somehow.

I’m likely the target audience for the movie based on my left of center politics, but I suspect some will say it’s a great movie because of political tribalism and never watch it again because they know it’s actually not very good.

Just my opinion.

Why didn't you like it?