Review of 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die'
A man (a suitably demonic Sam Rockwell) dressed in rags and wrapped in what appears to be an explosive device arrives at a diner announcing that he has travelled from the future and needs volunteers to help him save the world from a device that causes the population to lose themselves in virtual reality. With no volunteers forthcoming he is forced to pick from those in the diner where he reveals this is not the first time he has travelled to this particular diner at this particular time so he rejects those who have previously not been helpful settling on Scott (Asim Chaudhry), Bob (Daniel Barnett), Marie (Georgia Goodman), and couple Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz) who are teachers struggling with students obsessed with their phones. Susan (Juno Temple) volunteers as does Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), wearing a distressed bridal dress, who the man initially rejects as having a feeling she would be a bit of “bad news” but changes his mind for some reason…As the police surround the diner the group manage to escape learning on the run that their mission is to stop a nine-year-old from creating the AI that will soon trigger the “technological singularity”. Their job is to make it to the youth's house and put a stop to it. As the group's numbers dwindle through various incidents we wonder if this time they will succeed…
I love the title which is delightfully subversive and, thankfully, the rest of the film is exactly that with a manic, erratic style that thoroughly entertains. It is (very) violent but it is so much fun to watch with a dark sense of humour that hits you from the beginning and never lets up, neither does the action. Coming from Gore Verbinski, the director of the “Pirates of the Caribbean”, this will all come as no surprise, neither will the incredible visuals such as the image of their child target atop a pile of IT ephemera. The pacing and dynamic framing of the images will be very familiar to lovers of the pirates franchise. This is not a film for the faint of heart and it is all the better for it. I saw it on the tiny screen in the back of an airline seat but try to see it on as big a screen as you can – This is a BIG film that deserves it though it did appear to disappear from the cinemas quite quickly.
Rockwell is amazing as the seriously unhinged time traveller who you never really trust, perhaps for good reason, but who you end up believing as events play out as he predicts. Ingrid, played by Haley Lu Richardson, is a wildcard in the mix with even the time traveller not entirely sure whether she can be trusted. It is her story and her unusual talent that ends up being a major plot point. Part of the fun of this film is coming to understand the twisted logic of what is going on…oddly, it actually does make a lot of sense and everything does actually come together so stick with it even if you are completely lost at the start. It is well worth it and also a lot of fun along the way.
This is an amazing looking, totally unhinged, darkly funny, and entertaining film that I thoroughly enjoyed despite it losing a little bit of steam about half way through…that steam is quickly retrieved as the action ramps up again for a breath-taking, unpredictable but quite appropriate ending. Without giving too much away, I love it when a film does NOT have a “Hollywood ending”.
Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”
Review Date: 2026-09-22
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Studio: 3 Arts Entertainment
Year: 2025
Length: 134 minutes
Genre: Science Fiction
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341338/