Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” test-screened around a dozen times this year. That is unheard of. It’s not that Netflix had doubts about the film, a political satire about global warming, no, rather the reactions at these screenings were universally positive. Audiences will probably dig “Don’t Look Up,” but will critics?

McKay’s film has started screening for a select few these last few days.

Critics were mostly positive on “The Big Short,” but reviews were mixed for McKay’s rather excellent Dick Cheney smackdown “Vice.” That film seemed to have the bad omen of being released during the Trump years when Cheney’s evil-doing took a backseat and all of the attention was zeroed in on the mean-tweeting 45th President.

“Don’t Look Up” comes to us as the trailers and clips that have been released from Netflix were not very well-liked. It has been deemed McKay’s return to comedy. It’s the story of two low-level astronomers (played by Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that will destroy Earth. 

A poster on the AwardsWorthy forums posted this yesterday:

“This just screened to a group of critics here and... I wasn't ready for this but... They're raving it like crazy. Like, they're thinking this will get around 10 nods and win many of them. It has much more VFX than I expected. The original song is not an end-titles one but marks one of the funniest scenes, Streep can win her 4th, Original Screenplay win may be a lock, SAG Ensemble is in the bag, this is Leo's best ever, the film's insanely funny kinda raving I'm talking about. I don't know what to think right now.”

“Don’t Look Up” is set to premiere on Netflix December 10th, 2021.