Nearly a decade after his last film, the underappreciated horror epic A Cure for Wellness, legendary filmmaker Gore Verbinski returns with the sci-fi action-comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. And while we were as excited to see a movie from the director of Pirates of the Caribbean and one of the writers of Monster Trucks as the next guy, the result is disappointingly uneven, albeit consistently fun.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Fantastic Fest Review
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die follows a mysterious man who arrives at a diner, claiming to be a soldier from the future on a mission to recruit the right team of supporters to save the world from a rogue AI. While a high-concept film like this should be an easy sell, Matthew Robinson’s script feels like an amalgamation of elements from other, better movies.
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One of the biggest weaknesses of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is that it bites off more than it can chew thematically. The overall arc threatens timeliness with its artificial intelligence-focused storyline, but it’s about as in-touch as the Terminator franchise was in the 1980s. For the most part, it presents AI and technology as this vague threat that will derail humanity but doesn’t engage with the real-world ethical implications of technological dependence.
Additionally, the film is undermined by its narrative structure. After we are introduced to the scenario, we get a series of flashbacks of the various characters’ interactions with technology, which turns the movie into an anthology of sorts. The issue is that these backstories completely undo the logic of the opening scene, causing everything to fall apart under the slightest bit of scrutiny.
The highlight is the middle section, which follows Juno Temple as the mother of a school shooting victim, is the most fascinating by far — and it’s no coincidence that it’s the darkest and edgiest. It’s a big swing, and while the film’s satirical handling of this very serious issue may put some audiences off, it’s also a lot more insightful than many other movies have been.
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Beyond that section, the rest of the film feels content with its quirky, Everything Everywhere All at Once-style humor. There are a bunch of silly ideas throughout, some of which are even fun, but many of them seem designed specifically to be used in a trailer for marketing purposes. The one thing that Robinson’s script does consistently nail with its humor is its callbacks, which feel shockingly elaborate in their construction.
And while one would think a premise like this would be perfectly suited for the visual ambition of a director like Verbinski, it feels like he’s playing it a bit too safe here stylistically. Obviously, he doesn’t have the massive budget that he had for his Disney productions, but you’d also expect more than a mostly grey-looking action comedy with a few flourishes of color here and there. The movie feels like it could have been directed by any number of indie filmmakers, which for it to come from a bona fide auteur like Verbinski is disappointing.
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Ultimately, much of the film rides on the back of Sam Rockwell, who is giving one of the most unhinged, fun performances of his career. In the years since his Oscar win for Three Billboards, he’s been taking on more “serious” work, and while he’s great at that too, it’s nice to see him return to his zanier Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Justin Hammer side. He is incredibly charming and thrives in this comedic space, and his lead performance makes the over-two-hour runtime
Besides Rockwell, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die boasts a stacked supporting cast that includes Zazie Beets (Deadpool 2), Michael Peña (Ant-Man), Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), and Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus). It doesn’t feel like any of them are being asked to do much, but they’re all charming enough in their roles.
Is Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die worth watching?
Simultaneously overambitious to a fault and frustratingly derivative, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die skirts by — just barely — on the charisma of Sam Rockwell in the lead role. It’s not a spectacular return for Gore Verbinski, but it’s a fun little action comedy if you’re willing to see it on the level it’s performing at and not where it’s trying to be.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die premiered at the 2025 edition of Fantastic Fest, which runs September 18-25 in Austin, TX.
