‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’ – A Necessary Antidote to the AI Incursion

Warning: Includes SPOILERS for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die!

Near the end of Gore Verbinski’s wild and unusual film, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, the few people left from a diner group tasked with saving the world witness something incredible. Their leader, a quirky time traveler portrayed by Sam Rockwell, has repeatedly gone back in time, trying different combinations of people to assemble the perfect team to prevent a disastrous future. Everything appears to be progressing well, until this very moment.

It’s hard to explain, but it reminds me of how H.P. Lovecraft often avoided fully describing his scariest monsters. I’m struggling to put into words this computer-generated giraffe – its incredibly long neck is actually made of hundreds of big cats, all topped with an even bigger cat head! If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll understand what I mean. But honestly, even that description doesn’t quite capture how strange it is.

Briarcliff Entertainment

This creature feels like a throwback to the early days of AI, when programs trying to ‘dream’ often produced strange, nonsensical images – almost like the bizarre, AI-generated monsters you see on TikTok. Despite being incredibly strange – truly one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a movie – it also felt unsettlingly familiar. As someone who generally dislikes AI, I initially wondered if it was created using image-generating software. However, the way the giraffe-cat-monster moved and focused its eyes suggested otherwise. Still, it was a sight I unfortunately recognized, because AI is now everywhere online – in search engines, emails, and those strangely realistic social media videos.

Understanding how easily we’re tricked by misinformation is central to the movie Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. It brilliantly captures the feeling of constantly battling an overwhelming, shapeless threat. The film follows several strange storylines: teachers fighting zombie-like teens glued to their phones, a mother coping with her son’s death in a school shooting who gets involved with a secretive group of parents cloning their children, and a woman with a Wi-Fi allergy struggling as her boyfriend becomes obsessed with virtual reality. Like endlessly scrolling through Instagram Reels, the movie jumps between increasingly bizarre plots, leaving you questioning what you’re seeing, what’s happening, and whether any of it is even real – or if it matters.

The film definitely makes its point, especially with its explosive, Akirainspired finale. While not all of its complex plotlines fully succeed, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die* ultimately ties everything together in a satisfying and emotional climax. At its heart, the story is about a child’s deep love for their mother and their determination to keep her safe—a feeling any loving child can relate to. This simple, powerful emotion proves to be something even an all-powerful being can’t overcome, because human love is completely natural and genuine.

Briarcliff Entertainment

What sets Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die apart from shows like Black Mirror is its focus on the power of human resilience. While many stories highlight the dangers of technology and leave you feeling hopeless, this movie emphasizes our ability to keep fighting, even when the odds are stacked against us. Though the film ends with the characters facing another setback, it’s ultimately uplifting, not discouraging. It asks a simple question: when faced with a battle you can’t win, what else can you do but keep trying?

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Verbinski’s film reminds us that we’re the ones who create problematic futures—and surprisingly, the central conflict revolves around preventing a child from creating an AI that could take over the world. The movie emphasizes that we have a choice: we can reject AI-generated content and maintain our standards, or we can accept things like fake political videos and manipulated animal content as normal. The characters in the diner find themselves caught in a hopeless battle, but they ultimately choose to fight back and resist accepting this new reality.

2026-02-19 02:02

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