a nerdy academic prone to panic attacks), does
some calculations, he can’t believe his eyes: The
“planet killer” comet will hit Earth in six months.
Soon the pair are in touch with the Planetary
Defense Coordination Office (a real thing), and
flying to Washington to meet with the self-
involved, inept and somewhat corrupt President
Orlean (Streep, with 20-something hair and
pointy red glasses). In the Oval Office, nobody is
too worried, least of all Orlean’s insufferable son
and chief of staff, Jason (an obnoxiously funny
Hill, clearly improvising much of the time). Jason
is particularly doubtful because Randall and
Kate are not Ivy Leaguers: Watch JLaw offer to
show her SAT scores.
As for POTUS, who’s in the middle of a scandal
with her Supreme Court nominee, she has one,
impatient question: “OK, what’s the ASK here?”
The only choice is to go to the media. That
doesn’t go too well either. On a popular morning
show, The Daily Rip, the hosts (Tyler Perry and
Cate Blanchett, having lots of fun) don’t get the
point either, and the message gets lost amid
memes about Randall’s nerdy attractiveness and
Kate’s on-air explosion (“We’re all gonna die!”
she screams.)
Meanwhile, an attempted lifesaving mission
onto the comet — a la “Armageddon” —
encounters its own problems. And then tech
billionaire Peter Isherwall gets involved. Rylance,
masterful at playing strange types, has perhaps
never looked or sounded quite this weird, with
his perfect hair and too-white teeth. Through
this not-quite-developed character, McKay
conveys his obvious disdain for the billionaires
currently cavorting in space.