Every now and then a film so original comes along that you can’t quite believe it got made in this day and age and it is a thrill to even see it made it to your local multiplex. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is one of those films: a wild, zany adventure that is so exhilaratingly original it plastered a dumb smile to my face (when its depressingly accurate commentary wasn’t disturbing me).
We are thrown straight into the story as we find ourselves in a busy diner, suddenly commanded by the appearance of our lead man (Sam Rockwell), dressed in some kind of homemade sci-fi raincoat complete with wires and tubes, who claims to be from the future and, with a bomb that may or may not be real, holds the diner’s patrons hostage whilst attempting to recruit a group to join him on a mysterious yet urgent mission to save the world. With a motley crew assembled, the film offers us flashbacks into the lives of a few: a spousal pair of teachers (Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz), a mother whose son was killed in a school shooting (Juno Temple) and a young woman literally allergic to technology (Haley Lu Richardson). Soon we are whisked off on an adventure that has plenty of thrills and even more to say about the current state of our relationship with technology.
Whilst Sam Rockwell crashes straight in with full energy and screen magnetism, the film takes a minute to fully warm up as it takes us through the various character flashbacks. Each one almost feels like a mini Black Mirrorepisode and they get better as they go as they have an increasingly emotional through line. The first flashback involves hordes of zombie-like doomscrolling teens at a school (watching someone doomscroll on screen is incredibly depressing) which really builds up the world of the film and sets up some later scenes. The second offers a pitch-black satire on the prevalence of school shootings in the US and the seeming complacency that has allowed them to become common place. The film goes to places you don’t think it will and it unafraid in combining this with dark commentary of our increasing reliance on AI stand-ins for emotional connection and a leaning on technology to ameliorate the ‘symptoms’ of a problem rather than fix their cause. The third sets up Richardson’s character’s allergy to technology (she gets nosebleeds and becomes increasingly unable to function in its presence) to both critique the way it has bled into even the lives of young children (she works as a birthday party princess – one of the few professions that could be tech-free) and the way its addictive and encroaching nature can overpower even the most strong-willed hold outs. Each offers something to the story but their presence makes the film feel a little fragmented and interrupts the momentum building in the main timeline. However, they aren’t superfluous and once these are out of the way, the film begins to fall into the nostalgic feel of an off-kilter adventure movie (something very much in director Gore Verbinksi’s wheelhouse and the kind of film we use to get so frequently that feels like it has died out).
There are layers of mystery surrounding their goal that are slowly stripped back, with their ultimate aim incredibly relevant to stories that are seen in the headlines of the news today. The film becomes increasingly creative and wonderfully unhinged as it goes (more often than not, you will not predict what is coming next), and our band of characters keep us heavily invested in their mission. Rockwell is as magnificently charismatic as ever, leading the characters, and the audience through times when none of us know what is going on. He supported by a great cast all round, offering moments of genuine hilarity as well as pathos, and most (particularly due to the flashbacks) are rounded enough and with strong enough performances that we buy into them as people. Richardson is a standout, tasked with a bigger arc that most of the others and proving herself again to be one to watch.
The film is both alarmingly prescient and horribly confronting in its portrayal of our world filled with addictive doomscrolling and generative AI. It is a future barely removed from now and it is frightening. It is truly reflective of our current society, holding a depressing mirror up to reality and really should serve as a wake up call for all of us. The way technology is forever integrating itself into every aspect of our lives, the world that has created and how, as a result of that world, we have turned back to technology to try and cope with it (often in unhealthy ways like using scrolling for numbing or dopamine hits) is at the absolute core of the film. When they talk about saving humanity, it feels like more than just a standard plot device. However, this isn’t a lecture, the film is an adventure and brilliantly entertaining in its own way, not just as a way to dress up its message.
Having said all of that, the film is often very funny; there are some absolutely hilarious moments that genuinely had me giggling in my seat. It is a really fun time at the cinema offering thrills from both its adventurous plot and the glorious way it fully commits to its ideas, continuously escalating towards a spectacular climax. I can’t believe something so original got made (of course, it is an indie, but never feels lacking in budget) and it proves just how much big swings can pay off in filmmaking. The sad irony is that it likely won’t get seen by as many people, especially in cinemas, as it would have 20 years ago because of the phone issue it portrays so well.
It is not perfect but it is a brilliant time at the cinema. Zany, exciting and original, with searing commentary at its core, it has all the makings of a cult classic. As we continue to hurtle towards the world it warns us about, I don’t doubt it’ll be discovered by even more people.
