Directed By Aziz Ansari

Starring – Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves

The Plot – A well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel (Reeves) meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker (Ansari) and a wealthy venture capitalist (Seth Rogen), forcing them to switch lives, in order to teach lessons to the ignorance of each.

Rated R for adult language and some drug use

Good Fortune (2025) Official Trailer – Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Keanu Reeves

POSITIVES

Despite a structural outline that can essentially be diluted down to “It’s a Wonderful Life” meets “Trading Places”, Ansari’s film actually feels a lot of originality to the ages old formulaic concept that refreshingly offers a contemporary take to class warfare, surmising a bitingly caustic and endearing charm to the journey of its characters, yet one that rarely loses sight of the realities of its circumstances. For starters, I loved that this script made this transformation between its two leads feel one-sided and uncompromisingly blessing to the person who is wealthily advantageous, at all times, especially considering so many of these movies revolve around the main protagonist eventually wanting their life back, and while it does follow a bit of the predictability in outcomes that you would expect in so many of these films feeling interchangeable, it does offer ample insight and unflinching honesty into the depths of legitimate everyday poverty, highlighting the design of systematic oppression, which keeps the wealthy rich, while keeping the struggling poor. On top of this, being that Ansari is a comedian, it also offers the film ample personality in the laughs department, towards some effectively registering gags that at least made the first half of the movie every bit the film that was advertised. While the aforementioned trio each receive remarkable time to shine with the appeal of their respective brand of unique deliveries, it’s honestly Reeves who supplanted the most laughter from the consistency of my engagement, as a fish out of water angel who is trying the human experience for the first time in his existence. It’s certainly not the funniest movie of the year, by any stretch of the imagination, but the pungency in personality does help to maintain the feel-good emphasis that so much of this film is subscribing towards, despite a very upfront and honest depiction towards modernistic struggles, attaining the kind of noteworthy deliveries that would work, regardless of the advantages of its desired R-rating, or not. As for that decorated trio, the performances from each of them offer something integral to the foundation of the character dynamics, with Rogen articulating the spoiled insincerities of being an upper class snob all of his life, Ansari supplanting an earnestness and charm that continuously speaks levels towards his endearingly resilient spirit, and Reeves commanding ahold of the engagement with intentional monotonously dry deliveries that elicits an adorably almost kid-like energy from the overseeing Gabriel. Ansari shows tremendous restrain as a director in his belief in the capabilities of his two co-stars, particularly when the movie makes a dramatic shift to focus on them faithfully, throughout its second half, and while that section of the film aims less for laughs, and instead more for underlining heart, it never feels like his guiding towards the performances loses sight in the transformations of each of these three characters, and despite how much I was vibing with Rogen and Ansari conveying glaring evidence emotionally in the depths of their drastically differing situations, it was Reeves who ultimately provided a breath of fresh air, each time he popped up spontaneously on-screen, solidifying impeccable comedic timing amidst impulsive responses to punchlines that wouldn’t be half as appealing without the dryness of Keanu’s distinguished deliveries there to balance earnestness with innocence. As for the technique behind the lens, Ansari doesn’t take a lot of chances with his execution, in order to supplant an imprint on the lasting impressions of his work, but there are is some stunning cinematography commanded from Adam Newport-Berra that captures the cultural and economical diversity of Los Angeles, especially with these wide angle establishing shots depicting the wealthy and poverty-stricken of a community within one cohesive framing. Likewise, the editing schemes, while a bit excessive in their one-off transitions to tacked-on punchlines from a gag manufactured in the previous scene, does artistically utilize the side scrolling cuts that you sadly don’t see in a lot of films anymore, instilling a quirkiness to the visual panache of the proceedings, in ways that compliment the aforementioned comic underlining that feel like they resolve so many of the movie’s initial scenes and sequences.

NEGATIVES

While there’s plenty to praise about Ansari’s feature length directorial debut, there’s a few underwhelming aspects that continuously tested the patience of my engagement, even at a film that clocks in at a meager 93-minute runtime. The first of these is definitely in the inconsistency of the directional storytelling, with the second half of the movie weighed down by a springing focus that opts to follow along the emerging buddy comedy between Rogen and Reeves, rather than the previously established protagonist in Ansari, who has dominated the focus to that point in the film. It’s a bit unfulfilling and underdeveloped that we never get to experience the trials and tribulations of Ansari’s newfound wealth, even if perfect existence was the point of his creative intuition, and considering the other two characters are essentially stuck in lingo while working around him, with nothing but repetition in these oddball situations that they continuously find themselves in, the freshness and appeal of this trading gimmick starts to overstay its welcome, quite early in the transformation, unable to be saved even when the film does start to spiral back to Ansari and an emerging love story for his character. It’s tough enough that the movie completely rushes the romantic dynamic between he and Keke Palmer, especially considering Palmer is every bit the infectiously glowing personality that she always adds to any film she wonderfully graces, but it’s even worse when we come to realize that the two have absolutely no palpable chemistry between them, a fact made all the more glaring as their characters barely ever physically interact, and instead joke around like friends who met at the house of a mutual acquaintance between them. The arc with Palmer’s character facing her own inabilities to get ahead in life and work are forcefully pursued, even when they add very little relevance or value to the narrative persisting within the established duo at the forefront of the transformation, and while it’s nice to have additional subplots to keep the integrity of the duration freshly appealing and overall engaging, the deviation to this arc cost me more interest, the longer the film shifted towards it, making me wish as much time wasn’t spent on this section that basically just echoes everything that we experience with the other poor characters facing their own respective urgencies. Finally, the ending inspires warmhearted sentiments, as you would probably expect, however the definition of its messaging left slightly more to be desired, especially in the phoniness of one particular scene paid to Rogen’s venture capitalist, in which Seth heavily speaks directly to the audience, in order to inspire an urgency towards togetherness. The problem in this instance is that the orchestration doesn’t feel believable for the character, even against the extension of his journey to enlightenment, and even worse than that, the message conveys that everyone, rich and poor, has to play their part in society, rather than a deconstruction towards equality, and considering the story takes place in Los Angeles, a city featuring some of the biggest financial gaps between its citizens, it feels like it’s investing in the very same problematic system that got its struggling characters here in the first place, essentially serving as the cinematic ‘Go back to work’ moment of post-Covid frustrations that changed nothing in its industry halting momentum.

OVERALL
“Good Fortune” is A situationally funny and economically enlightening comic caper of a directorial debut for Aziz Ansari, whose spiritual journey throughout the pains of working class struggles surmises a stinging sentiment to outdated sociological concepts and biting social commentary, in ways that inscribe equal parts laughter and frustration to ages old systematic oppression. While Ansari’s inconsistencies in both the storytelling and sequencing eventually come to deter the extent of the predictably derivative destination, the magnetism from the decorated ensemble cement a fortuitous outcome to such a familiar story, with Keanu Reeves flying higher than the rest on the small wings that carry the movie’s momentum on them.

My Grade: 7.3 or B-