Don't Say Good Luck (2026)

Sunny Sandler, daughter of Adam Sandler, stars in a new Netflix film directed by Julia Hart, and it has caught the attention of many younger audiences as they watch this heartfelt coming-of-age story. The film's relatability of just being a normal teenage girl also tells a devastating reality that many cannot fathom facing. The storyline showcases a deeper meaning of the classic theatre kid saying, “the show must go on”, and emotionally captures the struggles that happen on and off the stage. 

Don’t Say Good Luck follows a young girl in high school, Sophie, who happily gets cast as the star in her school's play, Waitress, but unfortunately ends up facing many challenges beyond just her role. In the beginning, we are quickly introduced to the loving, close relationship between Sophie and her mother (Melanie Lynskey), which becomes pretty much the main focus of the film. During Sophie’s audition process for the play, we learn that the mother’s cancer has unfortunately come back, which ends up taking a massive mental toll on Sophie. She does end up successfully earning the lead after receiving the news, and the film continues on with her trying to balance both priorities: her mom’s health and her big role in Waitress. 

Of course, a big aspect of the film is the play that Sophie leads in, but the heart of it belongs to the heartwarming mother-daughter dynamic that is displayed throughout. Being the eldest and only daughter in the family, it only makes the relationship with the mother even more special and strong. We see this in important scenes like Sophie’s mother helping her with her southern accent for her role, and Sophie reciprocating the love by building a homemade production of the play in their own backyard since her mom couldn’t see it live. The film made it very easy for the audience to feel every ounce of sadness towards the two characters when they are going through their difficult hardships.

Netflix’s new comedy drama, Don’t Say Good Luck, is a heartwarming tearjerker as well as a love letter to the transformative power of being a theater kid. Directed by Julia Hart, Don’t Say Good Luck follows Sophie (Sunny Sandler), a theater kid who finally gets the lead role in her school’s production of Waitress - just as she finds out her mom Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey) is dying of cancer. While the singing is by no means spectacular and Sandler’s acting is stiff, the film is grounded in the moving performance of Lynskey as a mother who wants nothing more than for her daughter to achieve her dreams, even if she can’t be there to see them.

The film opens on a chaotic morning breakfast scene - Sophie burns her face with a curling iron, her two little brothers are bouncing off the walls, and her parents are just trying to make it out of the house to open their Jewish deli. But as Sophie waits her turn in the school auditorium for her callback, we cut to the hospital, where mom Elizabeth and dad Ted (Max Greenfield) are receiving devastating news: Elizabeth’s cancer has returned. Despite this, Elizabeth vows to fight, and carries on supporting her daughter in her theater dreams when she gets the lead role of Jenna in Waitress. In one hilarious scene, Elizabeth even takes Sophie to the mall to practice her southern accent for the musical, where she claims her daughter is Miss Savannah and needs a bathing suit with ruffles and sparkles.

However, things soon take a turn for the worse. Elizabeth' s health and ability to function fails, and she begins vomiting spontaneously. At this point, the doctors admit she doesn't have long to live, the grandparents are called in to help, and the secret of this devastating news is kept from the kids. In the end though, Elizabeth has to break the news to the kids, and she is unable to attend Sophie’s performance. However, Sophie still finds a profound way to keep her mother with her - the main character in Waitress, Jenna, is dealing with a surprise pregnancy. Instead of using the costume the school provided, Sophie closes her performance in her mother’s old maternity dress.