Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 20, 2026)
Does a quirky title like Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die imply a quirky movie? In the case of this 2026 film, the answer comes back yes, as it delivers an off-beat sci-fi adventure.
At precisely 10:10 PM, a man who claims to come from the future (Sam Rockwell) enters Norm’s Diner in Los Angeles. He needs volunteers to help him prevent a catastrophic event.
However, Future Man doesn’t know which or how many patrons he needs, which is why this time exists at his 117th attempt to save the world. Future Man tries to convince a skeptical collection of restaurant guests to join his cause and go on a wild ride.
After a couple of moderate hits and one semi-bomb, director Gore Verbinski hit the big time via the massive success of 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Its 2006 and 2007 sequels also earned major profits.
Outside of the Pirates franchise, though, Verbinski’s films struggled to find an audience. After a four-year hiatus, Verbinski led the animated Western Rango, a project that didn’t flop but that also failed to make money.
Verbinski followed Rango with 2013’s Lone Ranger, a project that did bomb. Indeed, its failure apparently sent Verbinski to “A-list Director Jail”, as so far he’s not gotten another shot at an expensive production.
2016’s A Cure for Wellness only cost $40 million, and Good Luck comes with an even more modest $20 million budget. Alas for Verbinski, neither made any money, so he seems unlikely to helm another tentpole flick any time soon.
Given the quality of Verbinski’s last few movies, I can’t bemoan this trend. While I liked his first two Pirates films, the third didn’t work, and none of his flicks since then succeeded either.
That includes Luck - to some degree, at least. While the film manages enough chaotic energy to keep us generally engaged across its 134 minutes, it never truly gets into a groove.
Some of this stems from the story’s structure due to the fact Luck sends us into flashbacks as it also pursues its main plot. These scenes allow us to learn more about the diner patrons that Future Man recruits and they also show us additional glimpses into the movie’s version of society.
While these bring some useful information, they disrupt the main narrative’s momentum. They also feel awfully on the nose.
This becomes an albatross from the start. Luck wants to give us both social commentary and cautionary tale with a satirical bent, but it does so in a ham-fisted manner.
Granted, this kind of too obvious content doesn’t doom a movie. Pixar’s 2008 hit WALL-E included a similarly heavy-handed vision of the future in which humanity disintegrates due to bad choices.
However, WALL-E compensated with positives that balanced out the clumsy message. Luck doesn’t manage to do so as well.
Again, Verbinski creates a movie that zings at a fast enough pace that we stay with it, even if 134 minutes feels awfully long for a relatively one-note story like this. Luck could probably lose half an hour from that running time and fare better.
Still, the film rarely threatens to bore the viewer. It ensures that we find some entertainment along the way.
A good cast helps, as in addition to the ever-delightful Rockwell, we find folks like Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz and Juno Temple. They add credibility to the final product.
Nonetheless, I find it hard to get past the awkwardness of the project’s message as well as the erratic nature of its storytelling. Luck tries so hard to offer something wacky and irreverent that it turns into a watchable but erratic tale.
