'Don't Say Good Luck' Review: Sandler, Lynskey Hit Netflix
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- Julia Hart directs 'Don't Say Good Luck,' a 95-minute drama following Sophie Birenbaum, a high school student whose mother Elizabeth's cancer has returned just as she lands the lead in her school's 'Waitress' production.
- Sunny Sandler plays Sophie and gets to 'sing, dance, act, and act even more' across the film's musical numbers, with the review calling her pairing with Melanie Lynskey as Elizabeth 'heartbreaking.'
- Max Greenfield plays patriarch Ted — a local bagel shop owner — alongside Eitan Friedman and Matan Friedman as Sophie's brothers and Scarlett Estevez as her best friend Carolyn.
- Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi appear as Elizabeth's parents, who arrive and openly question why Elizabeth and Ted are letting Sophie perform while her mother is ill.
- Laura Hankin co-wrote the script with Hart and her producer-husband Jordan Horowitz; the story is drawn directly from Hankin's own experience of landing a major high school musical role while her mother battled cancer.
- The film begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, August 14.
Why it matters: The review frames 'Don't Say Good Luck' as a cut above typical straight-to-streaming dramas — Hart's script, co-written with Hankin from lived experience, earns its emotional beats rather than coasting on Sandler's family name, with Lynskey's veteran turn anchoring the film ahead of its August 14 Netflix premiere.
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