Title – Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025)

Director – Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl)

Cast – Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pena, Zazie Beetz

Plot – A nameless man, self-reporting to be from the future (Rockwell) makes himself known at a Los Angeles diner to enlist the support of a group of patrons to help him save humanity from a future that has been ruined by rogue A.I.  

“Your fascist selfie culture has eroded your capacity for critical thinking”

Review by Eddie on 15/04/2026

Returning for his first feature film since 2016’s mostly forgotten about A Cure for Wellness, Academy Award winning Pirates of the Caribbean filmmaker Gore Verbinski returns via the most unexpected of ways with his $20 million-dollar independent outing, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.

A collaboration with screenwriter Matthew Robinson, Verbinski’s long break from the world of movies has allowed him to refresh and come back with a very anti-Hollywood/Hollywood feeling film as he and Robinson shine a microscope on A.I, our modern zombified world, American politics and pure fun as Sam Rockwell’s unnamed self-reported man from the future makes his way to an LA diner to enlist unknowing patrons into a fight for humanities future.

Almost like a comedic Terminator, with the threat of human hating robots replaced by a faceless A.I threat, Good Luck is not a film to be taken seriously and its many plot threads and ideas don’t always feel like they have much time to breath outside of the central quest Rockwell and his merry band are on but it’s going to take a hard to please viewer not to find some fun in Verbinski’s return, one that harkens back to his playful days of filmmaking that gave birth to the likes of cult favourite Mousehunt and the box-office behemoths that were the original Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Arguably 20-30 minutes too long overall, Good Luck maintains a steady pace throughout with Verbinski getting stuck straight into the action when Rockwell’s homeless looking hero/lunatic bursts into a diner for the supposed 117th time looking for the perfect group of humankind’s saviours and as we are introduced to the likes of Juno Temple’s grieving mother Susan or Haley Lu Richardson’s wi-fi allergic Ingrid, there’s never a dull moment in this wild outing, that sometimes just needed to sit back and focus more on the stronger elements of its narrative that at times get pushed aside for underexplored side missions.

What’s undeniable throughout this unexpectedly crazy and boundary pushing outing, you’ll know exactly what I mean when Susan arrives at her local high school or when an oversized cats makes its presence well and truly known, is the fun its cast is having with an ever game Rockwell leading the charge, Temple, Richardson and other supports like Michael Pena and Zazie Beetz are all having a lot of fun here and it’s commendable what they and their director have managed to deliver here with a budget that would probably not even cover basic costs of a big Hollywood films marketing campaign.

Reminding us that his time away from the movie industry is one we should mourn, even despite the misstep that was The Lone Ranger and the big swing that didn’t hit perfectly that was A Cure for Wellness, it’s great to see Verbinski back and having fun with his artistic medium and at the same time showcasing what can be done outside of the typical Hollywood system with a bit of verve and imagination.

Final Say –

Highly likely to be a cult favourite in waiting, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a rough around the edges ride that doesn’t always fit together perfectly but thanks to a committed cast and energetic direction from an undervalued proven talent, this comedic sci-fi trip with some sombre messages is well worth exploring.

3 meat thermometers out of 5