Editor’s Note: Please be advised that this review contains spoilers.
Despite being less than two months into the year, I feel confident in crowning Gore Verbinski’s “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” as the most bewildering film of 2026. However, I’m not sure the movie’s absurdist nature ultimately helps or hurts its thematic messaging.
“It’s a wild movie for sure, but with all the events that took place within the movie, I was like, ‘whoa,’” OH alumni Jack Beaudette said.
“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is a sci‑fi action‑comedy that follows a “Man from the Future” who arrives at a Los Angeles diner to take its patrons hostage. The traveler must recruit a specific combination of ordinary people to join him on a frantic quest to save the world from a rogue artificial intelligence.
Sam Rockwell’s performance as the Man From the Future is one of the bright spots in the film, with him being abrasive and crude. His first act on screen shows this: peeing out of his catheter on the floor of a diner, immediately establishing what the vibe of the next 140 minutes will be— in‑your‑face, unsubtle commentary.
This wild, in‑your‑face tone clearly landed with some audiences. “I think the comedy makes it less serious with the certain actors and actresses they chose,” Beaudette said. “But with that, I think the idea of AI taking over will be conveyed better than a more serious version, as people tend to seek out more comedy than tense situations.”
However, some audiences felt differently. OH senior Malachi Curtis said, “The parts where it tried to be funny weren’t funny. I think that the movie could have been a little more creative with its AI usage and the metaphor that it had there.”
Additionally, the film contains three vignettes that interrupt the main story, featuring additional worldbuilding for the ways the evil AI has begun to infiltrate society. From the entertainment we consume to the fabric of our social relationships, AI is omnipresent in the movie.
It’s obvious that the film’s themes are inspired by the rapid rise of AI over the past few years. Artificial intelligence has drastically changed not only the entertainment industry but also everyday life, and Verbinski clearly pulls from that anxiety. The vignettes exaggerate real concerns: algorithms shaping our behavior, tech companies monetizing everything, and people retreating into digital worlds instead of fixing the real one.
“I think the film is trying to tell us to be careful with AI, otherwise it will or can take over,” Beaudette said. “The scene with Michael Peña’s character touching the phone of a student, showing that people are glued to their phones and almost producing something to mind‑control them.”
To some viewers, it might seem like Verbinski doesn’t fully grasp how serious these issues are, because the film presents AI with the same absurdist, over‑the‑top style it uses for everything else. The rogue AI, the zombified teens, and the hijacked feeds are all played for dark laughs.
That approach cuts both ways. On one hand, the absurdity captures what it feels like to live in an online world that’s constantly overwhelming and vaguely terrifying. On the other hand, the nonstop chaos often undercuts the movie’s more serious ideas, making its message feel scattered.
Beaudette said. “But to an experienced eye, the absurdity can show how crazy Gore really is about conveying this message of AI and that people should be really careful about the actions they choose with AI. I’m looking at you, Elon Musk.”
Curtis, however, felt the exaggeration went too far to land as effective satire. “I feel like the movie exaggerated it by a major, major amount in a way that is just to the point where it’s unrealistic and too extra for me to look at it and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is an actual issue.’”
Ultimately, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is messy, loud, and frequently ridiculous—but also ambitious and never boring. Whether you leave the theater thrilled or exhausted, you probably won’t forget it.
In a movie landscape full of safe reboots and sequels, that alone makes it worth talking about.
I'm a senior at OHS and it's my first year as a journalist. I hope to go to school for directing and screenwriting. I plan on mostly writing about movies and video games, and most nerd stuff. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
