Narratively busy, but quite a fun time.
Arj is at the bottom of the employment ladder; barely holding his life together. Meanwhile, Gabriel the angel wants to fix Arj’s life before it gets any worse… with a solution involving Jeff, a born-to-riches millennial tech bro.
Written, directed, and starring Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation) Good Fortune also stars Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Keanu Reeves, and is overall, an entertaining movie. It isn’t a laugh-a-minute comedy, nor is it raunchy or loud; but it has surprising integrity in its character storytelling. Even if it does get a little stretched trying to succeed at all of its intentions.
The film starts immediately, with Gabriel (Reeves) overlooking the city. His task is specifically to be a guardian angel for people texting and driving. No more, no less. While he peeks at people’s messages, he grows concerned for one Arj (Ansari) who appears to be a “lost soul.” Hoping to rise in the ranks of angels, Gabriel breaks protocol and attempts to give Arj divine intervention. Unfortunately, Gabriel isn’t very good at his job… and things quickly go sideways.
If you are here for Keanu Reeves as an angel with tiny silly wings, you’ll be satisfied. There’s a bit more depth to the story to keep you around as well.
I don’t go into comedies very often. If I do, I find myself erring towards British comedies, or comedies that are more subtle. A comedy with Seth Rogen in it is less likely to get my attention. But recently films have been lacking (TRON: Ares) and I wanted to see Reeves in silly angel wings.
Seeing actor Aziz Ansari not only directed this but also wrote it could have been warning signs. Often these things become vanity projects, or excuses to go on a tax-free holiday. But surprisingly, Good Fortune has enough integrity that this may not be entirely the case.
First off, this movie has very strong Gen-Z and millennial humour. This probably won’t resonate at all with the older audiences. It has elements from many different stories here: A Christmas Story, Cinderella, Pinocchio, any sort of body-swap story, all wrapped in a contemporary setting. Arj is the classic nihilistic Gen-Z. Set in his ways; content with the futility of life. He works as a “Task Sergeant”, basically a gofer for any and all jobs people ask of him. On one of his jobs, he meets Jeff (Rogen) and is absolutely captivated at the ease and luxury of his life as a self-possessed tech bro.
The difficulty arises when Gabriel takes Arj and swaps his life with that of Jeff’s, hoping to prove to Arj that money doesn’t bring happiness. But a jaded type like Arj really enjoys having all the money and no responsibilities! With that, the lives of all three spiral out of control.
As said, it isn’t a laugh-a-minute, but it definitely has its moments. Arj’s early tiraid at a young boy about how all his dreams will crash and burn. Or his job, as little as it is, begin replaced by AI. Or the tech bro who is completely blind to the problems of the world. All of these things are very relatable and are given a deadpan, eyerolling delivery.
On top of this, is Reeves, as a hopelessly misguided angel. Trapped in the hierarchy of angels, doing the grunt work, and wishing to be more. The film’s rather predictable plot (it has a literal Chekov’s gun) is redeemed with Gabriel’s utter uselessness. We know what’s going on, we know how it should end, but the most powerful cast member is also the most clueless.
The film is spinning a lot of plates, though, and it does feel like it struggles to focus. We have Arj’s nililism blooming into happy ignorance. We have Gabriel wishing acknowledgement and fame. Then there’s Jeff’s world-blindness and selfishness. But on top of all this, is Arj’s crush, Elena (Keke Palmer, Nope) who is the straight woman beside these three goofs. She’s not as content with her lot in life, and fights back. There’s a subplot of starting workers’ unions and demanding more pay. While this does tie together at the literal end of the movie, for the majority of the runtime everything feels a bit half-baked. It also really leans on the strength that Keanu Reeves is here. It isn’t egregious to the story, but there’s a degree of deliberate starry-eyed wonder in certain scenes.
But that isn’t to say it isn’t enjoyable. Came for Keanu Reeves as an angel, stayed for a commentary on the struggles of modern living. It isn’t a cinema worthy movie (how many comedies are?) but it is a nice time. It isn’t offensive or annoying, just good.
