It's sad, because it would probably happen exactly that way.

Don't Look Up is a comedy with heart, a disaster film that takes an impending catastrophe -- in this case, a massive comet heading directly towards Earth -- and builds on the premise that society is more concerned with social media, image, profit and politics than even its own survival.

The movie builds quickly, from the discovery of the asteroid by doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) to confirmation of its inevitable trajectory by her instructor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio). They take the information to the government, as one might expect them to do, but U.S. President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her chief of staff, her son Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), are more concerned with politics and scandals and optics; the president decides the best course is to study the situation further and assess it down the road.

Of course, that strategy is not optimal when a comet is streaking toward your planet. And let's be clear, the projectile in question is several kilometers across, large enough for an extinction-level event dwarfing that one that killed the dinosaurs.

So Mindy and Dibiasky try to take their message directly to the people, but of course social media is more concerned with clicks and fads and pop news tidbits. No one cares. And, in an obvious reflection on modern society, half of the population doesn't believe the science anyway, choosing to reject the notion of a planet-killing comet entirely.

An optimistic mission by NASA to destroy or deflect the comet is aborted when Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a private scientist (and large campaign donor), realizes the comet consists of trillions of dollars worth of valuable minerals that they hope to acquire. The potential for vast wealth easily outweighs the likelihood of total devastation.

As the comet grows in the night sky and the evidence of its existence becomes irrefutable, "Don't Look Up" becomes the rallying cry of people who believe it is their moral and patriotic duty not to acknowledge the comet's existence ... simply because the government tells them not to.

Scattered throughout the movie are brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-them flashes of life, examples of life on this planet in all of its variety, just to hit home what is at stake. And there are some really sweet moments between people as well -- a counterpoint to the overall madness of modern society.

Overall, Don't Look Up is very funny. At times, disappointing. And desperately sad.