First lets get the bullshit out of the way:
This is written and directed by a woman and has the normal tropes included because of it:
-
Smart female leads, stupid / useless male leads
-
Only "good" male character is a black guy who also happens to be a cancer scientist and the one all the women want to bang
-
Women characters are 80% of the plot and dialogue
However this movie had a chance to 'end' a specific way that really slams home a great message about COVID and not trusting the Government / Scientists, which I was sure wouldn't happen but end up did.
I was genuinely surprised that they chose that direction, and it turns it from a crap feminist melodrama into a relatively enjoyable black comedy Christmas film.
Don't expect to get blown away but I very much enjoy seeing the crying on Reddit over the ending and how angry it made people because it 'emboldens conspiracy theorists.'
I think you might be reading a bit too much into the movie's message: the script for this film was written long before COVID and most of it was shot in 2019. I get that it suddenly seems much more relevant now, but I don't know that that was intentional: the whole film really seemed to me to be just another exercise in Millennial nihilism.
Oh I seriously doubt she intended that to be the message, or else it never would have gotten funded / approved / made.
I genuinely think she didn't understand the ramifications of ending it the way she did.