It’s a comforting thought to imagine that someone from the afterlife is looking after you, ensuring that you don’t meet an untimely and undeserving fate. That thought becomes even more reassuring when the figure looking over your shoulder takes the form of national treasure and all-around teddy bear Keanu Reeves (any Keanu slander will not be tolerated). Aziz Ansari’s “Good Fortune” employs this guardian angel trope in a delightfully fresh and class-conscious exploration of wealth and status in the sun-drenched City of Angels.
Reeves stars as a comically inept but kind-hearted and well-intentioned angel Gabriel, looking like a mixture between Jesus Christ himself and trench-coated Columbo. Gabriel is a tiny-winged minor angel (yes, even the angels in this movie have class envy) in charge of saving people from texting and driving-induced crashes.
Bored with his seemingly insignificant role, Gabriel attempts to intervene in the life of Arj (Aziz Ansari), a homeless and down-on-his-luck man who spends his days performing odd jobs and his nights sleeping in his car. After being fired for misuse of funds by his boss and generic rich finance bro Jeff (Seth Rogen), Gabriel seeks to cheer Arj up by swapping Arj’s and Jeff’s bodies. Things go awry in a “Trading Places” meets “Freaky Friday”-esque situation, with Jeff being forced to confront the struggles that life presents to those less fortunate while Arj enjoys living the high life.
The hilarious dynamic between Reeves, Rogen and Ansari is the backbone of this movie. Any combination of the three is filled with heartfelt moments and actually laugh-out-loud jokes (if the theater hadn’t been near empty when I went with my friends, we would’ve been chased out).
Reeves’ delivery is flat and emotionless, but that becomes part of his charm. No one watches a Keanu Reeves movie for some phenomenal Oscar-worthy performance; they watch it because he is so bad that he actually becomes quite good. His descent (arguably an ascent) from a middle-level angel to a chain-smoking, salsa-dancing line cook is a performance you didn’t even know you needed until you see it, at which point you wonder what life was like before this movie.
Rogen delivers, as he always does, with his signature laugh and loveably douchey demeanor, but Ansari’s performance leaves something to be desired. His dialogue maintains the same whine throughout, and while he makes you feel for his character’s situation (you lack basic empathy if you don’t), it feels like he’s trying to perform a stand-up routine rather than create a compelling character.
Despite the occasionally questionable delivery, every line in this movie is a well-earned and well-written laugh. The jokes feel fresh and original, and they make up a continuous stream of genuinely humorous remarks that are somehow even funnier when they come from Reeves himself.
Keke Palmer gives a good performance as Elena, Arj’s love interest and aspiring union organizer for the hardware store where they both work. Her role is unfortunately relegated mainly to that of Arj’s love interest, which undercuts her potential to make the movie even better (go watch “One of Them Days” starring Palmer and SZA, you’ll thank me later).
“Good Fortune” delivers a clear, though sometimes heavy-handed, message about class consciousness with a moral that even a kindergartener couldn’t miss. It’s a well-timed reflection on the unrelenting and hellish struggle to make ends meet and the utter disregard and ignorance of these struggles by those who control the majority of the wealth. Despite the pervasive and often glaringly obvious way in which this message is conveyed, “Good Fortune” delivers a delightful mixture of social commentary and deadpan comedy to make it well worth an hour and a half of your day.
