GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE
(director: Gore Verbinski; screenwriter: Matthew Robinson; cinematographer: James Whitaker; editor: Craig Wood; music: Geoff Zanelli; cast: Sam Rockwell (The Future Man), Haley Lu Richardson (Ingrid), Asim Chaudhry (Scott), Juno Temple (Susan), Georgia Goodman (Marie), Michael Pena (Mark), Tom Taylor (Tim), Daniel Barnett (Bob), Artie Wilkinson-Hunt (The AI Boy), Zazie Beetz (Janet), Dominique Maher (Samantha), Dino Fetscher (Blaise at Clone Store), Anna Acton (Jillian at Clone Party); Runtime: 134; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Gore Verbinski, Robert Kulzer, Erwin Stoff, Oliver Obst, Denise Chamian; Briarcliff Entertainment; 2026)
“Sardonic, weird and thankfully anti-AI.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Gore Verbinski (“The Ring”/”Pirates of the Caribbean”) directs this gonzo comedy sci-fi film that’s a winner despite being bloated in its length and seeming dated like a 1980s film. It’s his first film in 9 years and comes after a few of his films over the last few decades were losers like “The Lone Ranger” and “A Cure for Wellness.” Screenwriter Matthew Robinson’s clever script keeps it sardonic, weird and thankfully anti-AI.
A bearded man looking like a bum walks one evening into the crowded Norm’s diner in Los Angeles dressed in a ragged knit hat with dangling wires in it and a raincoat with explosives in it and claims to be the Future Man (Sam Rockwell). He says he’s looking for volunteers to save the world tonight from a rogue artificial intelligence program that aims to control the population through its advanced technology. He claims this is his 117th time he’s returned to the past from an apocalyptic future to see if he can carry out this vital mission to destroy the computer program and save the future for humanity.
Future Man recruits Susan (Juno Temple), a timid single mom who lost her child in a school shooting and is told they can now clone school shooting vics but offer no solutions to prevent further school shootings; Mark (Michael Pena) and Janet (Zazie Beetz) are married school teachers frustrated over not getting their addicted to the smart phone students to read books; Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson) is a lonely young woman not impressed by modern technology who gets ditched by her pizza delivery boyfriend Tim (Tom Taylor) for a VR fantasy program; the Uber driver Scott (Asim Chaudhry) who is a blowhard and a skeptic. The others are the assistant scoutmaster Bob (Daniel Barnett) and the ditsy diner patron Marie (Georgia Goodman). They are asked to take out the program of a science genius who is responsible for creating an AI super-intelligence code. But they first have to escape the police who raid the diner looking to arrest Future Man.
The well-staged and well-acted deliciously strange topical film tells us that our futuristic AI technology is not real (therefore a lie) but humanity is real and must be kept at all costs if we’re to survive.
The film’s main appeal might be to those who don’t trust the way the development of AI is moving along and how so many are willing to sell their souls to become slaves of technology, the midnight-madness viewer, fans of curious oddball cult films, those who dig Rockwell’s magical over-the-top zany performance, and viewers who just like good films that are provocative.
It played at the Beyond Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 2/19/2026 GRADE: A-
dennisschwartzreviews.com