Some films don’t try for much but succeed precisely in their aims. Then there are films like Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025), which tries for way too much with only partial success. Launching with infectious vigor, this one ultimately overplays its hand but deserves credit for how whole-heartedly it goes for it.
An ordinary diner in Los Angeles is disrupted one night by the arrival of a flamboyant man (Sam Rockwell) who claims to be from the future. He’s on a mission to save the world, and needs volunteers to help him get to the home of the boy who is building the godlike AI destined to ruin everything. The diner’s patrons think he’s a crazy homeless man, but since he seems to have explosives wired to his chest, eventually a group of recruits forms. It includes a pair of anxious school teachers (Zazie Beetz and Michael Peña), a distraught mother (Juno Temple), and a “princess-for-hire” with a death wish (Haley Lu Richardson). As their frantic mission through the streets of Los Angeles proceeds, backstories emerge, revealing the volunteers’ motivations — and that their present holds early signs of evidence of the dystopia they’re trying to prevent.
With Rockwell confidently driving the bus, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die gets off to a rousing start, even if the initial stew of influences feels a smidge derivative. The opening diner scene has a Groundhog Day meets Pulp Fiction vibe, while the overall scenario mixes The Terminator’s time-travel mission with Everything Everywhere All At Once’s frantic, anything-goes aesthetic. Even so, it’s a great deal of fun, and the energy doesn’t flag through the flashbacks, which play out like surreal, comic Black Mirror episodes. (The one featuring Temple’s character is especially good.) Alas, the chaotic mashup of tones, ideas, and storylines must resolve eventually, leading to a final act that hyperextends itself tying off the loose ends —while also piling on a twist or three too many, and rendering too explicit the messages of its satiric commentary. Somewhere along the way, high-speed rail becomes runaway train, and while the ending isn’t exactly a wreck, let’s just say it ain’t pretty. Even so, one has to appreciate how many big swings this one takes; they don’t all go over the fence, but they make for a wildly entertaining ballgame.
