People are enjoying their meals on a regular night when a scruffy Sam Rockwell in a raggedy plastic raincoat walks in, proclaims he’s from the future, and tries to recruit the correct combination of accomplices to help him save humanity from an AI-driven technological apocalypse. That’s the start of the wacky, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, creative adventure in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, from director Gore Verbinski and writer Matthew Robinson. 

A few of the diner patrons are moved by this unhinged pitch, and soon Rockewell’s time traveler is joined by teachers Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz), skeptic Scott (Asim Chaudhry), grieving mother Susan (Juno Temple), and depressed birthday party princess Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson). Is this the ragtag team that can save the world?

On paper, the idea of mashing up a Black Mirror concept with tones from Everything Everywhere All At Once, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Ready Player One, and even a little sprinkle of The Umbrella Academy, all while utilizing some of that Weapons chapter-style story structure, should work like a charm. And many times, it does. But those tones can sometimes clash with each other in a way that keeps the film from being more than the sum of its parts. 

The present-day sections with Rockwell and the gang from the diner are fun, due largely to Rockwell’s inherent charm on screen. He always does a great job of being funny and goofy, yet still carrying the emotional weight needed in a scene. His performance is endearing while still being weird and fun, and the film certainly would have suffered with someone less charismatic leading the way. 

The backstory chapters featuring each member of the world-saving party can feel a bit hit-or-miss, with the tones varying wildly between each person. It’s not that switching up the tones can’t work, it’s that the connective tissue between those tones doesn’t always work, which can make them smack up against each other instead of flowing into one another. 

For example, in the same film, we have a wacky sequence with phone-addicted teenagers breaking down doors like a horde of zombies, and a grim storyline about losing a child in a school shooting. The transition between those tones can feel somewhat jarring, forcing us to change emotional gears in a way that isn’t always satisfying or organic. 

Even the larger themes can feel somewhat inconsistent. The message that people are too reliant on technology and that being glued to our phones has robbed us of actual human connection is completely valid and worth shouting from the rooftops, but Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die never really digs into the larger issues for why society has reached this point. Is it the government? A shadowy organization of billionaires? Capitalism gone wild? The movie is never concerned with the causes, which diminishes the impact of the primary message.

“Teenagers are mean and brain-dead because they’re always on their phones” can sometimes come off as “old man yells at cloud” instead of a smarter, more clever take. That means Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die can feel like it’s trying to replicate Black Mirror’s “technology is fucked up” message, but with less bite and over a much longer runtime.

Still, there are sections that feel clever, fresh, and poignant. While some of the reference points and inspirations are clear, the movie never feels like a copy. We’re reminded of films like Idiocracy or Terminator, but only in a way that conjures up familiarity instead of imitation. 

While Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die isn’t a slam-dunk success, it does offer an entertaining take on the way technology destroys society. Despite some messaging that feels a bit too on-the-nose, it brings enough creativity to the table to be worth a watch.