In the latest in a long line of compelling pieces of evidence to suggest that general audiences don’t give a rat’s ass about what the critics think, star-studded disaster comedy Don’t Look Up has topped the Netflix most-watched list in 88 of the 89 countries it’s been available to stream since Friday.
Once touted as the platform’s major awards season contender, things started looking down for Don’t Look Up when the early reactions started pouring in, because it’s never a good look for a movie that aims for topical to be dubbed as smug and self-indulgent instead.
However, proving that big names still matter in the age of streaming, Adam McKay’s latest has joined Sandra Bullock’s The Unforgivable in becoming another widely panned film that’s positively destroyed the competition on Netflix, largely by virtue of the recognizable faces slapped all over the marketing.
Sure, Don’t Look Up may have snagged a few Golden Globe nominations in the relevant categories, but a lot of people view that particular ceremony as a joke, so it doesn’t really count. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill and the rest of the murderer’s row of talent do their bit, though, but as a whole, the finished product is a bit of a letdown, if still a hugely successful one.