½ 

Germany | USA 2025
Opening March 12, 2026

Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Writing credits: Matthew Robinson
Principal actors: Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple 

The Man from the Future (Sam Rockwell) arrives suddenly at an American diner one evening. He claims he needs to put together a team of people from those assembled to help save the future. Dressed in a ramshackle assortment of plastic, wires, and ripped clothing with tubes dripping unsavory liquids onto the floor, he does not make for a convincing figure. It seems more likely to the patrons of the diner that this is a crazy man who came off the street, but he does seem to know an awful lot about everyone there, and the apparent bomb strapped to his chest does a lot of convincing. Will he be able to find the right combination of people to save the world from the artificial intelligence coming to destroy humanity? Or will he instead lead the group to an unsavory end?

From the get-go, this is an exciting romp of a film. The concept may sound a bit clichéd (and they know it, with plenty of references to the Terminator franchise, but the film is so frenetic and humorous that it doesn’t really matter. Sam Rockwell carries the film with his weird charisma, but each of the side characters also contribute enough to make the stakes feel meaningful. Director Gore Verbinski and screenwriter Matthew Robinson make an excellent creative pair with the result being an outlandishly weird and, most importantly, fun film which harkens back to some sci-fi comedy classics of old. While Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is largely a silly comedy, it still manages to satirize some of the most upsetting aspects of modern America, demonstrating that even a popcorn adventure film can still have serious themes at its heart. (Rose F.)

Another Opinion by Marinell H.

 ½ 

Imagine, you go to NORMS diner for a piece of pie, and instead a plastic canopied, bomb-toting mile-a-minute talking crazy man (Sam Rockwell) barges in. “The future’s fucked and I’m here to set it right,” he proclaims stomping across tables and people looking for volunteers to join his crusade. The man is from the future, it’s grim he warns. No bookstores, no record shops. The diners are shocked into silence—ranting and raving is not exactly building consensus. Truth be told, Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz) might be thinking he is not totally off the mark considering the day they had. Good luck finding anyone nuts enough to go with him.

The Man from the Future needs select patrons to accompany him to where a technology superkid lives. The catch? There is only one twenty-four-hour period to accomplish the death-defying feat of reprogramming him. Susan (Juno Temple), acting on her son’s (Riccardo Drayton) instructions, tentatively volunteers. Not to drag this out, The Man from the Future recruits (hijacks) Marie (Georgia Goodman), Boy Scout Bob (Daniel Barnett), Scott (Asim Chaudhry) and, by luck of a fluke movement, the allergic Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson). They cluster around him, sirens screaming with police squads arriving, when The Man from the Future states the obvious: We need to escape. And don’t die.

The closer they get to their objective, the more things change. “Well, that’s different,” The Man from the Future muses looking at the enemies between them and their destination. Asked, the best he can offer is they make weapons in readiness, since he has never advanced so far before.

This zany sci-fi’s high-concept, high-stakes romp through Matthew Robinson’s pin-pointed screenplay under Gore Verbinski’s direction hits its target: un-social media and AI. Sam Rockwell explodes onto the screen, his performance audacious and transformative, mesmerizing; the cast support the storyline and his antics with aplomb. Cinematographer James Whitaker’s scope is comprehensive and imaginative; Geoff Zanelli’s score is scene-crafted and highly charged, and David Brisbin’s production design and Neil McClean’s costumes inventive. Craig Wood’s editing is the film’s nemesis—its length, particularly in regard to character’s backstories. Might as well have fun, just ensure your bladders are empty before the high-octane Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die takes off, leaving lots to mull over in its wake. 134 minutes