Death to 2020

Death to 2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Al Campbell, Alice Mathias. Writers: Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow 

Charlie Brooker’s mockumentary looks back at 2020 with interviews with fictional experts, world leaders, reporters and “average citizens” and gives a satirical look at one of the worst years in memory. Brooker (the creator of Black Mirror) used to so something similar for the BBC, but now of course he has Netflix to back him up and that allows up his budget and bag A-List stars for his cast: Jackson, Hugh Grant (who’s is great and once again willing to look despicable and make us laugh at his own expense), Tracey Ullman, Lisa Kudrow and Kumalil Najiani.Brooker’s wit (at times surreal) is all over this and the joke come in at a really fast rate. Yes most of them are very infantile and if you’ve browsed the internet over the past 12 months, if you’ve been on Facebook, or any social media for that matter, in fact if you’ve been alive at all, you will be familiar with most of them.

This feels like a collection of the memes of 2020: things which have already been told by many other comedians out there. There’s no great revelation, no big arguments or deep observations and to be honest, just a few hours after having watched it I can hardly remember any punchline. But having said that, despite the fact that it’s been slaughterred by the press, I did enjoyed it. I found it light and breathy and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that while watching it time flew by and I did find myself laughing more often than I thought I would. It may be because I like Charlie Brooker (I have actually worked with him a while ago and he’s one of the wittiest person I’ve ever met) but there is a certainly cathartic pleasure in seeing it all laid out there (and yes, it is all from a biased lefty point of view… but so what?). It works like a sort of exorcism to cleanse us from the memories of this terrible year.

On Netflix