Good Fortune review

GOOD FORTUNE: 

KEANU REEVES TRULY IS AN ANGEL IN UPROARIOUSLY FUNNY COMEDY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

LIONSGATE

Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and Aziz Ansari in Good Fortune

 

            Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Get Him to the Greek, Bob’s Burgers) befriends a Guardian Angel played by Keanu Reeves (The Matrix franchise, John Wick franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog 3) who turns his life…into absolute perfection…and doesn’t get turned upside down in the new supernatural comedy film, Good Fortune. This film marks Ansari’s official directorial debut after 2022’s Being Mortal was scrapped by Searchlight Pictures. 

            I was sold on this movie just by the premise alone when I saw the trailer for it in front of the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina earlier this year. Keanu Reeves, hot off the John Wick movies and voicing the edgy, Shadow the Hedgehog in the recent Sonic movie as a bumbling angel trying to help a lost soul played by Ansari and an It’s a Wonderful Lifemeets Freaky Friday-ish plot where Ansari switches lives with a successful Seth Rogen (Superbad, This is the End, The Studio). 

            The film is essentially a social satire on the rich VS the poor, but not in a way where it constantly hammers the message into your head. It remembers to be a comedy first and My God (No pun intended), this movie is really, REALLY funny! 

            I laughed quite a bit during this movie and all of it comes from the performances by Reeves, Ansari, and Rogen. I literally could have just watched them sitting in a room, talking to each other, and cracking jokes for 90 minutes and come out happy. 

            The film follows Arj (Ansari), a down on his luck man struggling to make ends meet through various odd jobs (One of which is standing in line for 2 hours at a cinnamon bun shop for another person) and sleeps in his car. His life suddenly changes when he meets a well-meaning but rather inept Guardian Angel named Gabriel (Reeves) with small wings and mostly just stops people from texting and driving. 

            Gabriel proposes a one-week experiment where Arj switches lives with wealthy venture capitalist, Jeff (Rogen) in order for him to see how good he actually had it all along. That’s not at all what happens as Arj loves the life of luxury and doesn’t want to go back to the way things were thus leaving all three of them stuck in this alternate reality. 

            The film also stars Keke Palmer (Hustlers, Nope, One of Them Days) as Elena, Sandra Oh (Sideways, Grey’s Anatomy, Turning Red) as Martha, Stephen McKinley Henderson (Lincoln, Dune (2021), Civil War) as Azrael, and Sherry Cola (Turning Red, Shortcomings, Joy Ride) as Linda. 

            Overall, Good Fortune is an incredibly funny comedy that delivers plenty of laughs while also having a fascinating premise and an equally bold message. The movie takes the “Money can’t buy happiness” moral and twists it around where it’s like money can’t buy happiness, but it can help you live comfortably in a miserable life which I think is a really clever take on that message we’ve heard a million times. 

            On top of that, Seth Rogen’s character learns the lesson of hardship when he’s switched with Ansari’s life and how the lower class people working their asses off for long shifts and barely making enough money to survive affect the wealthy. Honestly, it makes me wish more investors, moguls, and businessmen in real life would learn the exact same lesson as Rogen in this film. 

            The performances by the three leads are all hysterical and just the team-up alone of Keanu Reeves, Aziz Ansari, and Seth Rogen has so much comedic potential. Reeves is perfectly cast as a well-meaning but bumbling angel as if Ted from Bill and Ted died and became an angel, in an age where people know him best for Neo from The Matrix and John Wick, it’s great to see him in a movie where he can showcase his comedic talents again in the most Keanu Reeves way possible. 

            Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen are also very funny though that’s kind of a given, but they work very well off each other and easily the best aspect of the movie are the scenes where they’re interacting with Keanu. Like I said, these three are so funny that when you put them together in a room, comedy magic is created. 

            One thing I found very interesting about the film is that the first half focuses on Aziz Ansari and Keanu Reeves, but then after Ansari switches places with Seth Rogen the second half revolves around Rogen and Reeves struggling to get by. The marketing really makes it seem like Ansari is the main character throughout, but in actuality it’s about Ansari and Rogen and you get to see the story from both their perspectives. 

            Good Fortune is a hilarious and downright smart comedy with relatable characters and equally relatable situations. It brings the belly laughs and a clever insight on the workplace world that’ll make you laugh your way up to Heaven.