Adam McKay’s apocalyptic comedy Don’t Look Up secured a Best Picture nod when the 2022 Academy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, to both the surprise and chagrin of cinephiles everywhere.
“Surprise” might be stretching it, since the ham-fisted, 138-minute euphemism about climate change seemed tailor-made to appease older, out-of-touch liberal Academy voters. Although the Netflix film set a record for the most viewing hours in a single week and went on to become the second most-watched film on the platform within 28 days of its release, it received a fairly lukewarm critical reception, with just a 56 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
And yet, here we are. In addition to Best Picture, Don’t Look Up also received nods for Best Original Screenplay, Editing, and Score, though none of the actors in the star-studded ensemble were nominated for individual awards. (Leonardo DiCaprio, in particular, was believed by some to have been snubbed over the exclusion.)
But even though the inclusion of Don’t Look Up among the 10 Best Picture nominations seemed all but inevitable, that doesn’t mean people have to be happy about it. Shortly after the nominations were announced, Twitter lit up with commentary about which other films were perhaps more deserving, such as Passing and tick, tick…BOOM!, in particular.
Thrillist writer Emma Stefansky suggested that Moonfall should have taken the place of Don’t Look Up, despite the fact that it wasn’t yet eligible for consideration.
Others took broader strokes with their criticism, deriding the Oscars as a whole, or reacting with GIFs to convey their amusement or displeasure.
IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich likened the metaphor to the fact that “the Oscars are bad.”
“Don’t look up is the nepotism baby of the oscars,” tweeted user @strawberritom.
And one thing is for sure. If The Power of the Dog, which led with 12 nominations, somehow manages to get passed over for Best Picture, we can probably all guess which film is going to take home the coveted award. As writer and pundit David Klion pointed out, we all better just get used to the idea now.
“Meanwhile, in my little corner of Twitter, we’ll be complaining about how 2021’s best movie about climate change, Dune, was robbed,” Klion added. We already can’t wait for that day on the internet.