---
title: "Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) review"
description: "roundhog Day meets Twelve Monkeys meets the Matrix, filtered through Gore Verbinski's Looney Tunes sensibilities. I had a blast - mostly."
url: https://www.joekarlsson.com/reviews/good-luck-have-fun-dont-die/
---

![A still from Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025)](https://www.joekarlsson.com/images/reviews/good-luck-have-fun-dont-die/backdrop.webp)

# Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025)

Sep 6, 2026 | 2 min read | Rated 3 out of 5 | Dir. Gore Verbinski

roundhog Day meets Twelve Monkeys meets the Matrix, filtered through Gore Verbinski’s Looney Tunes sensibilities. I had a blast - mostly.

Gore Verbinski returns after an eight-year absence with a sci-fi romp about an unnamed man from the future who walks into a Norms diner wearing a plastic raincoat and what looks like a suicide vest. He’s here to recruit the precise combination of disgruntled patrons to help him prevent the AI apocalypse. This is his 117th attempt. Sam Rockwell plays him as an absolutely unhinged homeless maniac, but with a ton of charisma. I don’t know if I would have joined him if I was in that diner. After watching this movie, I probably would.

The film does have boomer energy, though. There’s a lot of fear-mongering about the youths and technology that lands pretty hard - the kind of “kids these days are zombies on their phones” messaging that feels more like a Facebook meme than genuine insight. Verbinski is a fun visual director, and he brings a manic energy that keeps things entertaining, but I think he needs someone to tell him no. And he probably needs to talk to more actual kids. The satire works better when it’s aimed at systems than when it’s wagging a finger at teenagers.

The other problem is the runtime. This is 134 minutes. It should be 90. Men in Black figured out the formula: tight, zippy, get in and get out. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die keeps cutting away to mini-Black Mirror backstories for its ensemble cast, and every time it does, the momentum dies.

But Sam Rockwell. Man. He’s incredible. It’s such a shame he hasn’t had a successful film as a lead - he’s got so much charisma, and every time he pops up in anything, it’s a joy. Hollywood, give this man a franchise.

Also on [Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/joekarlsson/film/good-luck-have-fun-dont-die/)

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Joe  
Karlsson

I write about my homelab, AI tools, databases, and the weird stuff I build on the side.

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