PLOT: A struggling gig economy worker (Aziz Ansari) losing hope finds his reality switched with that of a tech bro (Seth Rogen) by a misguided angel (Keanu Reeves), who thinks he’ll miss his old life—when that turns out to be the furthest thing from the truth.
REVIEW: Mainstream studio comedies are an increasingly rare proposition, so it’s always a treat when one comes along. This fall, Lionsgate is taking a swing at returning the genre to multiplexes, and sure enough, Good Fortune, which premiered at TIFF, has the makings of a crowd-pleaser. It’s the feature directorial debut of Aziz Ansari, who also stars as Arj, a gig economy worker who winds up working for a soulless tech bro, played by Seth Rogen, who seems completely oblivious to the state of the world outside his palatial manor. In classic comedy fashion, they switch places as Arj gets to live life as a rich person, while Rogen’s Jeff has to try and make ends meet despite having no marketable skills.
While Ansari and Rogen alone would make this a comedy worth seeing, the movie’s secret weapon is the third lead, the angel Gabriel, played by none other than Keanu Reeves. Perfectly cast, Reeves is hysterical as the spacey, none-too-bright angel whose responsibilities are limited to keeping people from getting into accidents while texting and driving. When he messes up, he finds himself demoted to being human, and a lot of the movie’s humour revolves around him adjusting to life as a mere mortal.
In fact, Reeves easily walks away with the movie, with Ansari and Rogen, while funny, playing perhaps a little too close to type—especially the latter. We’ve seen Rogen play roles like this before, particularly in Dumb Money, although the film has fun demoting him to being a working stiff. Likewise, Ansari, when Arj gets rich, goes into Tom Haverford mode. Of everyone, Reeves is the only one delivering a performance that feels totally fresh and new.
Even if some of it feels familiar, Good Fortune is still fun, with Ansari, who also wrote the film, opting for an optimistic, upbeat tone, even if the story takes a few too many convenient twists towards the end. There are some great belly laughs, mostly revolving around Reeves, who has the requisite innocence to play the kindly Gabriel, who doesn’t quite have the aptitude for the job some of his angel colleagues do, like his boss Martha, played by Sandra Oh.
Ansari also writes a nice role for Keke Palmer, as a colleague of Arj’s at a big box store who works hard at making the world around her a better place. She’s charming in the role, and really the only compelling reason Arj might want to return to his previous life.
In the end, Good Fortune’s biggest laughs mainly land because of the superb casting of Reeves, although Ansari and Rogen are a little less successful in their roles due to feeling too familiar. Yet, the movie is so big-hearted that it’s hard to hold too much against it. While I’ve seen better comedies this year (The Naked Gun is one), I still had a few good chuckles while watching this and walked out with a smile on my face. It’s not one of the truly memorable films I’ve seen at TIFF this year, but it’s pleasant enough.
