Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

And with that, the weekend of new releases has come to an end. While not quite as big a surprise as Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was yesterday, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (a movie with an equally long title) was also quite a shock to the system. I may be a bit presumptuous, but I have a feeling that this movie could stand as one of the most creative films of the year. I’m not surprised that, of the four new releases I saw this weekend, the only one that wasn’t original was my least favorite. Also, this movie now has me reconsidering my affection for peach tea. Am I already too far gone?

The biggest win for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, other than a very charming, impossible-to-dislike Sam Rockwell, was Gore Verbinski’s big narrative and directorial swings. The premise was incredibly novel, incorporating AI and time travel and augmented realities in ways I hadn’t seen before. There were shades of Weapons and The Electric State (the book) in here, but Verbinski had plenty of his own to say, too. This was probably the most anti-AI movie I’ve ever seen, and while Verbinski wasn’t exactly subtle delivering his opinions, what he had to say was important and true. While the final act got a little too out there and didn’t quite stick the landing, I admire the swing, and how are you supposed to end a movie with so much intriguing buildup? Weapons had the same problem, and where that film’s ending was more subdued, Verbinski went big.

The direction here was also super confident and suave, even, dropping the viewer into a dark and icky world that floated effectively between genres. From science fiction to horror, fantasy, and comedy, Verbinski threw it all at the wall and much of it stuck. That success was also due to the great ensemble cast, another thing that this movie shared with Weapons. Rockwell was magnetic, as usual, but I also enjoyed Haley Lu Richardson and Juno Temple’s characters. Everyone on the team had a moment in the sun, even Bob and Scott, and I’m certain this movie would have been much more boring as a solo vehicle.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die was outlandish, insanely fun, necessary in a time where AI is quickly taking over, and a bit too ambitious at times—the bald AI kid was weird and the ending was too long and convoluted—but I’d much rather be part of a reality with this movie than without it. We’ve got far too many recycles of familiar IPs, anyway; we could really benefit from some original stories like this (and like GOAT, and like Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie). Honestly, what a weekend for original storytelling I’ve had!