Joey Magidson
It’s fun to get down with a big, weird, science fiction flick from time to time. In the case of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, you have high concept sci-fi that seems to have a big goofy smile on its face. That goes a long way for a film that could seem utterly ridiculous if it wasn’t having so much damn fun. The movie is a big swing that admittedly doesn’t always work, but when it does…woah. Lacking for ideas and memorable moments, this flick is not.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die has one big issue, and that’s simply that it’s far too long. It doesn’t sink the film because so much of it is working, but it does manage to test your patience right when things should be getting the most interesting. By the end, the movie has certainly succeeded, but a tighter cut would have made it all killer, no filler. As it stands, there’s a lot of filler, and some of it is good filler, but it stands out, nonetheless.
One night, a disheveled man (Sam Rockwell) appears in a Los Angeles diner claiming to be from the future. He assures the patrons that he’s not crazy, isn’t robbing them, and needs their help to save the world. Then, he explains that he’s done this before (over 100 times, it turns out), and needs the precise combination of people to actually succeed. Of course, the diners think he’s nuts and return quickly to their phones, so he gets a little louder. Soon, some volunteers come forward, including new people he’s never been on this adventure with before. Notably, there’s single mom Susan (Juno Temple), as well as punk Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), who he initially rejects before realizing that she may be important in some manner.
Along with the rest of his makeshift team, consisting of high school teachers Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz), Uber driver Scott (Asim Chaudhry), assistant scoutmaster Bob (Daniel Barnett), and another diner in Marie (Georgia Goodman), they begin his mission. What does he need them to do? Well, an Artificial Intelligence created around now has grown too powerful in the future and basically led to the apocalypse, so he needs to upload some guardrails to the AI program. As they move towards the objective, flashbacks to many of their lives fill in some important gaps, especially when things begin to get really weird, which is saying something.
Sam Rockwell leads the way here with a very fun gonzo performance, one capable matched by different registers from Haley Lu Richardson and Juno Temple. Rockwell gets to go wild, really leaning in to how offbeat this time traveler is. It’s not subtle work, to be sure, but it is effective, and effectively amusing. Richardson gets to play against type here, with her character evolving throughout. By the time you learn what makes her so special, she’s become the most interesting part of the film. As for Temple, she has the emotional core of the movie in a way, which she handles with aplomb. Among the other teammates, Zazie Beets and Michael Peña stand out the most, though both could have stood to have had more to do. Supporting players here also include Tom Taylor and Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, among others.
Director Gore Verbinski is clearly very amused by the screenplay Matthew Robinson penned, as well as the concept of letting Rockwell off the leash. Rockwell, along with Richardson and Temple, provide the human element, while Robinson and Verbinski get to go off on AI and technology overall. Plus, occasionally there’s a batshit crazy image or moment, such as the appearance of a mix of cat and centaur that steals its scenes. At the same time, they can’t resist the urge to make this two hours and fourteen minutes long. At one point, the movie seems to be wrapping up, but it actually has close to a half hour left. That ebb and flow of pacing and overstuffed narrative dulls a bit of the flick’s effectiveness, though not enough to keep it from being overall successful.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die has a 90 minute version that absolutely rocks, but at well over two hours, it’s still a very good time, even with the overly slack pacing. This may not be the second coming of The Matrix or anything like that, but it’s original sci-fi, with a high concept and delightfully zany execution. For me? That’s more than good enough to warrant a hearty recommendation.
SCORE: ★★★
Comments
Loading…