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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Review

 It’s both the title of Gore Verbinski’s latest film as well as advice for anyone brave enough to endure this uninspired satire. 


On paper, the premise for this sci-fi / comedy sounds like it could be a fun, mind-bending adventure in the vein of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Lord knows we’re in desperate need of more original genre movies these days. In fact, the first few minutes of this movie are bold and intriguing, filled with cool camerawork that hints at something that has the potential to be mind-glowingly amazing. However, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” squanders any good will it has just seven minutes into this 138 minute movie. It’s at that point when the movie’s overall theme, the source of where its staggering amount of satirical humour comes from, is exhaustingly repeated over and over again with all the subtlety of a firework exploding in your face. Screenwriter Matthew Robinson wastes no time in establishing the through line of this movie which can simply be summed up as, “social media bad.” 





If you’re hoping for this movie to dig any deeper than that, you are going to be sadly disappointed. Not to say that Robinson and Verbinski don’t make a few witty critiques of our youth’s obsessive online culture. However, the way in which they mine that subject matter for laughs or poignancy is throughly unoriginal. Though it’s competently made and the performances are fine, the big deterrent when it comes to “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is that is has nothing new or revolutionary to say about what it’s lampooning. Nothing that that unnecessarily overlong more has to get up on its soapbox about is nothing that audiences aren’t already aware of. At a certain point, the satirical take on how youth and their obsession and reliance with technology are evil feels both lazy and unwanted. It’s like, “we GET it! Phones and social media run our lives and it’s bad! How many more times are we going to make this joke?” 


The truth is, everything that the movie covers has already been done so in funnier, more interesting ways. So much so that if you didn’t know any better, you would swear you were watching a collection of “Black Mirror” episodes strung loosely together. Ironically, the plotlines of “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” and the dynamic between its cast members actually give off more of a miniseries vibe. Perhaps if this story were spread out through six or eight episodes, it would have been more impactful or entertaining.  


There are occasional laughs and certain plot elements that were vaguely interesting to explore, but ultimately “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” feels just a little too, “been there, done that.” Now, if someone like Edgar Wright had directed this movie…now THAT would have been something worthwhile! It would have been so much funnier and more clever, and the action, horror and comedy elements would have landed so much more successfully! Wow, missed opportunities. Still, this movie is sure to find an audience that will sing its praises. Conspiracy theorists, maybe, or stoners perhaps. Or maybe just anyone who’s always wanted to see the image of a kitten-centaur bleeding glitter. Yes, that’s an actual thing that happens in this movie. Inventive and irreverent, all you can do before going into this movie is take a deep breath, count to three, and then whisper to yourself, “good luck, have fun, don’t die.”


Rating: ★★


Rreview by: Luke Elisio 

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