A mysterious man (Sam Rockwell) from the future recruits a group of patrons from a diner to help him save the world from Artificial Intelligence in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. The team he assembles includes Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), Mark (Michael Peña), Janet (Zazie Beetz), Scott (Asim Chaudhry),  Marie (Georgia Goodman), and Susan (Juno Temple). Director Gore Verbinski and screenwriter Matthew Robinson have made a wildly entertaining sci-fi action comedy that's funny, thrilling, campy and delightfully bonkers. The concept of time traveller going back in time over and over again to try to save the world from AI sounds intriguing and timely. Fortunately, it works without getting stretched too thinly because the filmmakers take the time to expand the backstories of each of the patrons before they embark on their mission. Susan has the most interesting and profound backstory because she communicates with her dead son through AI. The man from the future also gets his own backstory eventually, so it's great how the exposition is peppered throughout the film without the filmmakers bombarding the audience with it all at once.

      Besides the blend of outrageously funny comedy and thrills sans tonal unevenness or clunkiness, the other strengths include a few memorable surprises and very stylish visual effects as well as production design. Moreover, each member of the ensemble cast has their moment to shine and is well-cast, especially Sam Rockwell who has a lot of fun with his role. Be prepared for a wild, crowd-pleasing ride that's best experienced while high. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die deserves to be a cult classic like Donnie Darko and 12 Monkeys. At a running time of 2 hours and 14 minutes, it opens nationwide via Briarcliff Entertainment.

 

       In By Design, Camille (Juliette Lewis) turns into a chair and everyone around her including her friends, Lisa (Samantha Mathis) and Irene (Robin Tunney) like her more that way instead of as a human. Writer/director Amanda Kramer has made a provocative, absurdist experimental film with shades of Buñuel and Charlie Kaufman that's dull and stretches its bold premise too thinly. Melanie Griffith serves as the voice of the narrator. Although initially refreshing, By Design becomes repetitive around the 45-minute mark while running out of new things to say. There's not enough comedy to engage the audience and very little depth despite brief attempts to comment on superficiality and shallowness. The Substance tackles those topics more insightfully while remaining entertaining. It's ultimately less than the sum of its parts and leaves the audience underwhelmed as its dramatic momentum fizzles out without recovering. While it's great to see un-Hollywood and unconventional concepts, they don't always work, which is the case with By Design as well as last year's The Fantastic Golem Affairs. Perhaps this would've worked better as a short, but as a feature length film, it overstays its welcome. At a running time of 1 hours and 32 minutes, By Design opens at Quad Cinema via Music Box Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4