September 18^th: This pre-apocalyptic action oddity was a canny choice to open a festival so concerned with the dangers and temptations of artificial intelligence. The topic surfaced in short films and feature-length films, in moderated Q&A sessions, and in cocktail reception chatter. And why wouldn’t it? Read the news, catch a commercial, check your work email…someone is either bemoaning, selling, or blatantly using AI. Is this new technology stunting people’s capacity for critical thought? Or is it secretly plotting humanity’s downfall? Only time, etc.*

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025):

Director: Gore Verbinski
Screenwriter: Matthew Robinson
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz

The Plot: A man from the future (Sam Rockwell) appears in a Los Angeles diner with a dire warning: A rogue AI will destroy humanity unless he can find the right combination of patrons to join him on a quest to stop it. Claiming that this is his 117^th attempt, the Man recruits a rag-tag group of sad sacks and losers: High school teachers Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz), grieving mother Susan (Juno Temple), mentally unstable Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), cocky Uber driver Scott (Asim Chaudhry), Scout Master Bob (Daniel Barnet), and Marie (Georgia Goodman), who had a bad day and just wanted some pie. Will this be the group that saves the world?

I missed Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die when it came out last year, so I was glad to have the chance to see it on the big screen. As a director, Gore Verbinski combines a genuine oddball sensibility with a workman’s craftsmanship. I don’t always like his movies, but I’ve grown to really appreciate his work. Few other people making these kinds of big budget, hi-concept films are as willing to just get weird with it. He takes big swings in pursuit of reasonably thoughtful entertainment.

Working from a script by Schenectady native Matthew Robinson, Verbinski commits to a variety of tones and genres here: Slapstick, satire, tragedy, action, and horror all make an appearance alongside the science fiction trappings. Hot-button topics from today’s headlines are given the “what if” treatment. What if phone-addicted teenagers were being mind-controlled by an online algorithm? What if AI kills us by simply giving us everything we want and nothing we need? What if school shootings were such a regular occurrence that emotionally-deadened parents simply cloned their kids instead of mourning them?

Not all of the satirical elements land. I’m not necessarily against using dark humor to comment on America’s ubiquitous gun violence, but I’m not sure if it totally works here. The subject isn’t treated flippantly—the film is maybe too grounded at times—and it’s clearly intended to be thought-provoking. There’s just some tonal whiplash between a mother hyperventilating in her car outside of her murdered son’s high school and “we’re on our fourth clone daughter and decided to have fun with it this time” (to be fair, the latter scene is very funny).

While this is in many ways a silly film, there’s an undercurrent of desperation. Like Rockwell’s time traveler, the filmmakers are trying to shake the audience out of a stupor, asking us how any of this can be normal. Social media, digital gluttony, AI, comfort and convenience at the expense of privacy and self-reliance. “Are we adequately scared now?”

In other hands, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die easily could have been a total mess. It’s still a little messy, but Verbinski mostly keeps the ship moving on an even keel, aided by a strong cast. Sam Rockwell is in fine form, playing a slightly hardened variation on his loosey-goosey, fast-talking oddball persona. Juno Temple and Haley Lu Richardson are the supporting cast members with the most heavy-lifting to do. Both bring the right amount of gravity to their scenes, capably walking a tonal tightrope. The whole cast is equally in-tune with the frequency of this wild, weird movie.

There’s more to Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die than simply reminding audiences to choose reality over digital bliss (although it’s probably a good idea to keep reminding people of that). The film believes there’s still time to change and that it’s worth doing. People deserve better than a bleak future of mindless self indulgence**. I don’t want to make the film sound like a chore, though. Verbinski doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on the heavier elements; he just doesn’t do the Marvel thing of undercutting every serious moment with a quip. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is frequently laugh out loud funny. Pratfalls, clever dialogue, and situational absurdity all get their time to shine. That the film takes its quirky characters seriously is one of its greatest strengths.

It’s good to have Gore Verbinski back. Weirdo.

*Personally, I’ve made it this far without using AI so I figure I might as well keep trundling along with my regular human brain. For more information about Rooster Illusion’s AI policy, check out our new page: Rooster Illusion’s AI Policy.
**I mean, their last album came out in 2013.