Ron Perlman Profanely Smacks Down Critics Of Don't Look Up
The writer and director Adam McKay — known for his dark comedies such as "The Big Short" and "Vice" — recently released the comedy disaster movie "Don't Look Up." The film follows Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy PhD candidate, and her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), as they embark on a media tour to warn everyone of a planet-destroying comet headed toward Earth. The film serves as an allegory to the lack of radical action against the climate crisis through its satirical narrative.
The reviews for "Don't Look Up" were quite mixed — on Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 55% Tomatometer score and a 78% audience score. Positive reviews praised its humor and timeliness, including The Independent, who declared it a "punchy" satire, adding that it "is an ideal middle ground, detached enough from reality that it can function as pure satire, with the obviousness of it all only further fuelling the absurdity."
However, the negative reviews call the film heavy-handed and not as funny as intended. In a scathing review, David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote, "'Don't Look Up' is a blunt instrument in lieu of a sharp razor, and while McKay may believe that we're long past subtlety, it doesn't mean that one man's wake-up-sheeple howl into the abyss is funny, or insightful, or even watchable."
While not everyone involved has responded to the criticism, one of the film's actors, Ron Perlman, had some pretty harsh words for the criticism the film has received.
Perlman calls criticisms 'sick' and 'twisted'
In "Don't Look Up," Ron Perlman plays Colonel Benedict Drask, a war veteran who is chosen to ascend into space on a mission to stop the planet-destroying comet from hitting the earth. Speaking with The Independent, Perlman revealed that he doesn't agree with the criticisms that the film has received.
In a profane-filled response to critics, Perlman said, "F*** you and your self-importance and this self-perpetuating need to say everything bad about something just so that you can get some attention for something that you had no idea about creating. It's corrupt. And it's sick. And it's twisted." The actor also gave his opinion as to why he thinks critics may have given "Don't Look Up," or any film, bad reviews. He explained that he "understands that it's part of how the internet has almost killed journalism. And now journalism is trying to do everything they can to co-opt and maintain their importance."
Director Adam McKay also responded to the criticism of the film in an interview while speaking on BBC Radio 4's "Today." McKay said, "You're never going to make a movie to appeal to everyone" (via Deadline). McKay then pointed to the staggering success that "Don't Look Up" has found with Netflix viewers.
If you haven't yet watched "Don't Look Up" and would like to see what prompted Perlman's response to critics, the film is available to stream on Netflix.