Sometimes, once you hear something so succinctly put, it’s hard to unring that rhetorical bell. In this case, once I heard someone say that “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” was like an assembly of three funny but lesser episodes of “Black Mirror,” it became hard for me to divorce my feelings from that take. Not that I’m easily influenced, but just that it is such an apt and pithy summation of director Gore Verbinski’s new movie. Make no mistake, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is original in many ways, bold, darkly hilarious…but it also does feel familiar in its takedowns of modern society and technology. It’s a funny, fun, inventive film but it never feels more than the sum of its parts. And what also makes it less than stellar are some attempts at profundity and emotional impact that simply don’t land. Still, it’s unique and entertaining enough to be worthy of checking it out for those who are curious.
One night at a diner is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a man in a bizarre get up, claiming to be from the future and needing recruits to help stave off the end of humanity. The Man (Sam Rockwell) says he’s been through this 117 times so far but still seeks to form a team from some of the diner patrons. Once he assembles his covert mission squad (Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, Asim Chaudhry, Georgia Goodman, Daniel Barnett) we learn about some of their lives and interactions with technology that posit them as uniquely suited to join The Man on his endeavor and stop A.I. from wreaking havoc on civilization.
There are images in “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” that you have never seen before and are wholly unique to this movie. Written by Matthew Robinson and directed by Gore Verbinski, these aren’t just surprising bits but genuinely shocking moments of artistic expression that must be applauded (though I won’t go into specifics to avoid spoiling their impacts and dimming their brilliance). And while those truly splendid sequences are deserving of praise, they are surrounded by overly familiar narrative elements that dampen their shine just a bit. Robinson and Verbinski do well not to make it a real question if The Man is from the future or just crazy (he very clearly is from the future and has gone through this scenario many times), but they indulge in another storytelling twist that is far too belabored to be as emotionally effective as they seem to think it is. This isn’t just the case of being ahead of a movie on its plot points, but making a narrative decision so obvious that, when the movie itself finally acknowledges it, there’s no real character weight or meaning to it and it lands with a “yeah, I know” shrug in the audience.
“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” takes on lots of issues—Artificial Intelligence, capitalism, school shootings, virtual reality, escapism, transhumanity, and more. Verbinski’s film deserves its accolades for being about something and directly going at some of these (pressing) topics. The school shooting aspect is incredibly darkly hilarious in a way that hasn’t been handled by anyone ever before. But a lot of the other explored areas have been done in many places already (yes, including “Black Mirror”). And while much of Robinson’s tackling of these subjects is entertaining and funny, it’s hard not to notice when it occasionally slips the border into the territory of “old man yells at cloud” meme from “The Simpsons.” It’s hard to critique modern society and constantly evolving technology without sounding like an alarmist luddite. And while “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” succeeds 85% of the time at it, that remaining 15% grates a bit as out of touch demagoguery.
And that’s kind of the story of “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” in a nutshell—it’s one step forward, one quarter of a step back. You still get a mostly entertaining and unique cinematic experience!…just one that doesn’t feel as bold or as engrossing or emotionally satisfying as it should. The cast is stellar across the board with Rockwell being the obvious superstar, but Richardson and Temple also doing great work. Most of the ratatat dialogue is excellently fun banter that plays with sci-fi tropes and adventuring frameworks in a clever way while mostly creating intriguing characters to follow. “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” runs a bit too long and is a bit messy with its storytelling (seemingly purposefully so as to highlight human imperfections…or something—time travel is always sloppy at best anyways), but it’s still a mostly satisfying watch.
Verbinski and company have assembled a fun excursion into the digital heart of darkness that lies at the center of our modern society. “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is delightful and smart, and you will literally laugh out loud (and potentially gasp out loud, too) at many of the moments as they unfold. But it overstays its welcome and too often doesn’t feel as radical as it should. It’s messy in all the ways that prescient art can be but also fumbles some pretty basic narrative aspects that could have led to bigger emotional impacts. Still and all, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is an original movie that dares to be about something while providing unique experiences. And no matter its flaws, that will always be something worth celebrating.
3.5 / 5 Stars
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, Asim Chaudhry, Georgia Goodman, Daniel Barnett
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
