‘Good Fortune’ Evaluation: A Rags-to-Riches Satire With Wings

Who mentioned cash cannot purchase happiness? On this financial system, it actually can.

In Lionsgate’s new comedy “Good Fortune,” Aziz Ansari stars as Arj, a contract documentary editor who sleeps in his automotive whereas struggling to outlive in Los Angeles’ gig financial system. He works part-time at {Hardware} Heaven and works as a “process sergeant,” doing numerous contract jobs via an app service. He lives off suggestions and five-star critiques. Something much less is pure agony.

Arj is employed by enterprise capitalist Jeff (Seth Rogen) to arrange the storage of his luxurious hilltop dwelling. Arj convinces Jeff to rent him as an assistant. Sadly, the soft gig solely lasts so lengthy earlier than Jeff fires him for a severe mistake.

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The movie additionally follows Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), a disaffected guardian angel caught in a menial job saving individuals who textual content whereas driving, with solely tiny wings to point out for it. Gabriel longs for one thing enriching, just like the angel Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who’s tasked with saving misplaced souls and sports activities large, stunning wings, a logo of upper standing within the angelic group.

Arj and Gabriel’s paths collide after Gabriel saves Arj’s life, though the angel could not assist however discover the message Arj was going to ship, suggesting he had given up on life. Gabriel asks his boss, Martha from Angel Administration (Sandra Oh), to permit him to avoid wasting Arj’s soul. Martha tells Gabriel to remain in her lane (maybe actually), however he does not resist.

Aziz Ansari as Arj and Keanu Reeves as Gabriel in “Good Fortune”. (Eddy Chen/Lionsgate)

Simply when issues could not get any worse for Arj, Gabriel steps ahead with the hope of convincing Arj that his life is value residing. In doing so, Gabriel gives glimpses into Arj’s future, which includes utilizing a “pee bottle” as a supply man, residing in a crowded family, and never with the ability to afford remedy for his personal sick canine. Arj wasn’t precisely impressed with what was coming.

Gabriel then presents Arj with another: swapping his life with Jeff’s for every week. Nonetheless, he warns Arj that Jeff’s life “is not all it is cracked as much as be.” Besides Arj rapidly discovers that it’s, in actual fact, every thing it is cracked as much as be. Who might complain about pool events, fancy dinners, and having Jeff as your assistant with out him having any reminiscences of his previous life?

Enraged that he disobeyed her orders, Martha asks why Gabriel did what he did.

“I attempted to point out him that wealth wouldn’t remedy all his issues… It appears to have solved most of his issues,” Gabriel tells Martha. She accepts his wings as punishment, saying he can solely get them again if Arj voluntarily returns to his outdated life.

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Keanu Reeves as Gabriel and Sandra Oh as Martha in Good Fortune. (Eddy Chen/Lionsgate)

Deterred by the mistaken lesson Arj took from the life swap, Gabriel provides Jeff his reminiscence again, fueling him with anger over Arj stealing his life. Arj challenges Jeff saying he cannot reside in his place. Gabriel negotiates a deal whereby Arj might preserve Jeff’s rich life-style for a couple of extra days earlier than the 2 return. In fact, it is not precisely like that.

Residing Jeff’s life, Arj has to win again his former {Hardware} Heaven co-worker, Elena (Keke Palmer), who he courted in his earlier life however does not bear in mind after the swap. Like Arj, Elena additionally struggles within the gig financial system, taking the job at {Hardware} Heaven to get discounted lumber to pursue her ardour for making furnishings. However as a substitute of wallowing in distress like Arj did, she strives to vary the poor working circumstances by urging her co-workers to unionize.

Nonetheless, the longer Arj continues residing the excessive life, the extra disconnected he turns into from the Elena struggles he as soon as recognized with. In the meantime, Gabriel should adapt to human life and the ups and downs that include it as he tries to undo the mess he made.

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Aziz Ansari as Arj and Keke Palmer as Elena in “Good Fortune”. (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

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“Good Fortune” examines the lives of the haves and have-nots within the twenty first century and the way not everyone seems to be fortunate sufficient, like Jeff, to come back from a privileged background. That mentioned, it does not demonize the wealthy like progressives are inclined to do. Jeff isn’t dangerous. Is he very spoiled and maybe out of contact with the working class? In fact. This can be a far cry from being a Mr. Potter or a Mr. Burns.

Ansari, who additionally wrote and directed “Good Fortune,” rose to fame within the comedy world together with his breakout position as Tom Haverford on the favored NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation” and later created and starred within the Netflix sequence “Grasp of None,” which earned him two Emmys for writing.

His profession was derailed in the course of the top of the #MeToo motion after an nameless lady claimed he was a horrible date, insinuating that he dedicated sexual misconduct by failing to select up on her “nonverbal cues” that she was uncomfortable with bodily intimacy. Ansari was unfairly lumped in with the worst Me Too offenders like Harvey Weinstein and was excluded because of this.

Ansari has been slowly rebuilding his profession, primarily via stand-up. He was among the many high-profile comedians who just lately carried out on the Riyadh Comedy Competition in Saudi Arabia – an occasion that divided Hollywood.

I welcome Ansari’s return to the highlight. He is a humorous man. His expertise is basically on show in the course of the first two seasons of “Grasp of None.” “Good Fortune” isn’t fairly on the identical stage as his genius, however it’s nonetheless a stable entry on his IMDB web page.

Rogen primarily performs himself and serves his objective because the wealthy, shaman-seeking Jeff. Palmer has a specific heat that shines via in her performances and is ready to hold Elena grounded – a task that would simply have develop into boring amid the unionizing subplot.

The laughs are fairly inconsistent in “Good Fortune,” however Reeves actually provides it wings as Gabriel, an angel who desperately yearns for that means and expresses a childlike innocence as he navigates human life, corresponding to his discovery of “rooster nuggies.”

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Keanu Reeves as Gabriel, Seth Rogen as Jeff and Aziz Ansari as Arj in “Good Fortune”. (Eddy Chen/Lionsgate)

The decision:

A mixture of “It is a Great Life” and “Buying and selling Locations”, “Good Fortune” might lack constant laughs, however it makes up for it with coronary heart. It is a commendable directorial debut from Ansari, one which we hope may have extra alternatives to make us snort within the years to come back.

★★★ — STREAM LATER

“Good Fortune” is rated R for language and drug use. Operating time: 1 hour and 38 minutes. In theaters now.

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