Verbinski embraces human interaction in this offbeat, comical critique
Director Gore Verbinski, who spent nearly five years in Disney franchise filmmaking while helming the Pirates of the Caribbean series, is one of those rare filmmakers who is unafraid to venture off-the-rails when it comes to unique storytelling (Rango) and/or genre-obscuring tonality (The Mexican, The Weather Man). With Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, Verbinski is once again letting loose and crafting a dynamic, low budget sci-fi adventure that defies categorization.
If you can, try to go see Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die without knowing much about the plot, and consider not reading any further (but come back and finish this review after you see it!). Written by Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Love and Monsters), the film kicks off with a “man from the future” (Sam Rockwell) barging into a Los Angeles diner late at night to recruit a handful of patrons for the purpose of saving the world. What are they saving the world from? According to the “man from the future,” from a dystopian future where rogue artificial intelligence has created an idealistic fake reality that has ensnared nearly all of society. Robinson’s script is wacky and cynical, though spiced with notes of hope and ideological togetherness. At times, the story relies on familiar anti-AI themes and character stereotypes, but these narrative crutches don’t make the film’s critiques, or its sense of fun, any less untrue or effective.
The first half of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is primarily an acting showcase for Sam Rockwell, not that his talent was ever in question. Decked in a shapeless mess of dirty plastics and wires, like an unhoused man from Blade Runner, Rockwell chews up the scenery and lands all the jokes, emotional pauses, and angry exclamations that the script demands of him. The supporting players recruited at the diner include a couple of teachers, Janet (Zazie Beetz) and Mark (Michael Peña), a grieving mother, Susan (Juno Temple), a distrusting man (Asim Chaudry), and a depressed and demoralized young woman, Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson). The film is divided into a handful of chapters depicting the backstory of a few of the characters. Most of the supporting cast, however, are relegated to background commentators in the second half of the film, with the exception of Richardson.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die spends most of its satirical reach chastising our addictive and socially destructive reliance on technology (and specifically artificial intelligence). But the film also takes aim at our society’s blasé attitude towards school shootings and economic equality. Using not-too-inconceivable AI capabilities as the backdrop, Robinson and Verbinski craft a few dystopian situations that are simultaneously hilarious and unnerving, while narrowly avoiding being distasteful. With Verbinski as the architect and Rockwell as the host, we are invited to watch our humanity pitted against a grotesque future. The discomfort you feel by laughing at it all is part of the point.
Considering the film’s frantic energy, attention-grabbing opening scene, and rollicking pace, its ending is frustratingly drawn out. All of the film’s cleverness goes out the window in favor of a CGI-filled action finale, somewhat diminishing its own argument about our reliance on technology. As a whole, however, the film’s production is charmingly lo-fi and its high-concept premise allows for loads of comedic action. With Rockwell’s freewheeling performance and Verbinski’s return to genre-mashing form, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die lives up to its distinctly unabashed title.
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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die opens in theaters on Friday, February 13th.
