FILM
G R O U P
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’ T DIE
Review by Rose Finlay
© KONSTANTIN FILM VERLEIH
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’ T DIE
GERMANY, USA 2025 OPENING MARCH 12, 2026 DIRECTED BY GORE VERBINSKI
WRITING CREDITS: MATTHEW ROBINSON
PRINCIPAL ACTORS: SAM ROCKWELL, HALEY LU RICHARDSON, MICHAEL PEÑA, ZAZIE BEETZ, JUNO TEMPLE
A“ Man from the Future”( Sam Rockwell) arrives suddenly at an American diner one evening. He claims he needs to put together a team of people from those assembled to help save the future. Dressed in a ramshackle assortment of plastic, wires, and ripped clothing with tubes dripping unsavory liquids onto the floor, he does not make for a convincing figure. It seems more likely to the patrons of the diner that this is a crazy man off the street, but he does seem to know an awful lot about everyone there, and the apparent bomb strapped to his chest does a lot of convincing. Will he be able to find the right combination of people to save the world from the artificial intelligence coming to destroy humanity? Or will he instead lead the group to an unsavory end?
From the get-go, this is an exciting romp of a film. The concept may sound a bit cliché( and they know it, with plenty of references to Terminator), but the film is so frenetic and humorous that it doesn’ t really matter. Sam Rockwell carries the film with his weird charisma, but each of the side characters also contribute enough to make the stakes feel meaningful. Director Gore Verbinski and screenwriter Matthew Robinson make an excellent creative pair, with the result being an outlandishly silly, weird, and, most importantly, fun film which harkens back to some sci-fi comedy classics of old. While Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’ t Die is largely a silly comedy, it still manages to satirize some of the most upsetting aspects of modern America, demonstrating that even a popcorn adventure film can still have serious themes at its heart.
34 HAMBURG HAPPENINGS