Wondering if Don’t Look Up is ok for kids? Don’t Look Up is rated R for heavy language, nudity, and mature content, such as drug use. This satire on climate change and basically humanity is not really kid friendly, though I wish it were, because it addresses important issues. Here’s what parents need to know in this Don’t Look Up Parents Guide.
Don’t Look Up Parents Guide
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discover that a comet orbiting within the solar system is on a direct collision course with Earth. However, as they try to warn others, nobody seems to care.
With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), who are more concerned about being reelected than the end of the world. Even The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry) is more concerned with creating buzz and hype than actually reporting on real news.
The comet will hit the Earth in 6 months, but nobody will even notice, because they just won’t look up.
Why is Don’t Look Up Rated R?
Don’t Look Up is Rated R for language throughout, some sexual content, graphic nudity and drug content which means it may not be suitable for kids under 17.
Language
There is an extreme amount of uses of f*ck (some used in a sexual context); other profanity includes a**, sh*t, damn, and bit*h.
Mature Content
A couple is seen having sex, but no nudity is shown in that scene.
A woman’s bare breast is shown when she is topless.
Several nude people (full frontal nudity) are shown in a post-credit scene for comical purposes.
Drug use is shown where people get high off of Xanax.
The movie turns darker and emotional towards the end, which may be too much, even for teens.
Is Don’t Look Up Appropriate for Kids Under 17?
While Don’t Look Up is a satire and tries to be funny, sometimes it hits, and other times it misses. Don’t Look Up felt more doom and gloom, getting lectured by your parents, than light-hearted or inspiring enough to bring about change. Plus the additions of the nudity and language are unnecessary and aren’t something I’d want to show my teen daughter to inspire her to care about climate change. Some teens will want to watch, because of certain celebrities like Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, and Timothée Chalamet.
That’s not to say we don’t deserve being yelled at, because Don’t Look Up does show us the grim reality of what our society has become, from fighting over politics to our obsession with celebrities and reality TV, to countless other distractions instead of focusing on the inevitable and doing something about it.
However, this wasn’t the way to do it. Anybody who cared about these topics before watching Don’t Look Up will still care after, and those who didn’t will get so annoyed, they’ll tune it out and pick up their phones to turn to something more interesting that suits them. Yes, we’re all getting yelled at to look up and pay attention, but who’s listening to Hollywood?
