Review: GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE Is a Gloriously Unhinged Sci-Fi Riot You Have to See!
I walked into Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die hoping for something wildly weird. What I got was a full-blown, brain-scrambling, laugh-out-loud, what-did-I-just-watch experience that I’m still thinking about!
Gore Verbinski has returned with a movie that feels like it shouldn’t exist in today’s risk-averse studio system, and yet here it is, incredibly loud and unapologetic. This thing swings hard, hits most of the time, and when it misses it just keeps running anyway. I loved it for that. It’s messy in places, chaotic in others, but it’s alive in a way most movies just aren’t.
The concept hooked me instantly. A man claiming to be from a future completely wrecked by artificial intelligence storms into a Norms restaurant and enlists a group of strangers to help him accomplish his mission to save the world from AI.
He needs to find the exact mix of right people to help me because he insists it’s the only way to stop a rogue AI from wiping out humanity. The mission unfolds over one night and six city blocks.
That contained structure gives the film this ticking-clock energy that never lets up. It feels like if Groundhog Day collided headfirst with The Dirty Dozen, except everyone involved is slightly unhinged and the fate of the world depends on people who are struggling to keep their own lives from falling apart.
At the center of it all is Sam Rockwell, and good grief, he is on fire! Rockwell plays the mysterious time traveler like a man who has seen way too much and is barely holding it together.
He bounces between desperation, sarcasm, paranoia, and full-blown mania with the kind of ease only Rockwell can pull off. This might honestly be one of my favorite performances of his.
He commits completely to the role and dives into the insanity and drags us along with him. Watching him lead this random band of civilians on a life and death journey of complete unpredictable chaotic madness is so much freakin’ fun!
The supporting cast that includes Michael Peña, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, and Tom Taylor all lean into the insanity and help give the story texture and personality. They all get moments to shine, whether through sharp comedic timing or surprisingly grounded emotional beats.
That balance is what keeps the movie from collapsing under its own wild ideas. For every absurd scenario, there is a character reacting in a way that feels just human enough to keep the audience invested.
Verbinski does not tiptoe around his themes either. The film takes direct aim at our tech obsession, our addiction to screens, our blind trust in algorithms, and the creeping normalization of artificial intelligence shaping our lives.
It’s so funny, sometimes brutally so, but there’s a bite under the humor. The movie is not anti-technology. It is anti-losing-ourselves. It asks whether we are sleepwalking into disaster while doom scrolling and calling it progress. It even dares to pose a question… Do we even deserve to be saved if we keep making the same mistakes?
Stylistically, the movie is a chaotic assault on the senses and I thought it was a blast. Visual gags land out of nowhere, action scenes take sharp left turns, the narrative refuses to follow a straight line, and that unpredictability becomes part of the thrill.
We rarely see big creative swings like this, and this one had Everything Everywhere All at Once kind of energy. Verbinski directs with total confidence. The director would have to with a bonkers movie like this, and I’m so happy he didn’t play it safe.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is funny, disturbing, heartfelt, and relevant. It’s not clean or perfectly polished, and I wouldn’t want it to be. I would rather watch a filmmaker take a massive, ambitious swing like this than make a safe studio film any day.
This is the kind of sci-fi that sparks conversations, earns repeat viewings, and will definitely be a cult favorite. I’m already ready to see it again.
I don’t even care if you’re not into the sci-fi genre or if you’re not into crazy movies! Go see this movie! Takes this ride because you’re not gonna experience anything else like it this year. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the journey.
Also, It’s a movie you have to experience on the big screen with an audience!