Keanu is the chain-smoking angel who flies away with this class comedy
Aziz Ansari, the shaggy-dog comedian (“Master of None”) known for his casual demeanor and biting social barbs, makes his directorial debut with this comedy about fate, happiness and how much the rich – and AI – are eating those further down the social ladder. “Good Fortune” is a devilish mix of light and dark that takes a good long time to reveal just how dark things can get, despite focusing on people sleeping in their cars because they can’t put a roof over their heads no matter how many jobs they work.
Even with the billing of Ansari and fellow comedy mainstay Seth Rogen, it’s Keanu Reeves who marches off with the film. It’s mostly the actor’s innate warmth and humanity that do the trick, but there’s also that dash of goofball vacancy that made the “Bill & Ted” movies so indelible and endearing that gives the film agency and air – a project that, in hindsight, might have otherwise floundered.
Reeves plays Gabriel, a low-level angel (with tiny wings that aren’t powerful enough to fly) in charge of “Texting and Driving” – saving those that do – who wants to move up to the big leagues and direct the fate of a “Lost Soul.” His mission du jour is to stop Elena (Keke Palmer) from a distracted-driving crash, but but he takes a “lost soul” interest in her co-worker at a Home Depot knockoff, Arj (Ansari), while looming overhead, much as Bruno Ganz’s forlorn angel did in Wim Wenders’ transcendental “Wings of Desire” did in 1987. Arj, who develops a thing for Elena, can barely get by; he’s one of those in the workforce sleeping in their car. To keep the heater running, he does some Task Rabbit-esque side hustles that leads him into the servitude of Rogen’s uber-rich tech-bro, Jeff. Arj’s romantic prospects with Elena flounder until Gabriel uses his powers, in an “It’s a Wonderful Life” spin, to swap the economic existences of Arj and Jeff.
The unintended consequences get Gabriel fired and render him human and mortal and that – more than halfway in – is where the film finds its heart (and soul).
Now Gabriel has to work three jobs to get by, primarily as a dishwasher in an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ joint, but he also tastes food for the first time – the pleasures of chicken tenders, tacos and strawberry milkshakes are elevated to a euphoric level – and pets a dog. (Turns out, dogs have rights that need advocacy too.)
Rogen doing his big, loud yuks and Ansari as a passive-agressive, mousy counterpart serve the plot, but pull focus from Reeves, who, when allowed room to spread his wings (which he loses), brings grace, humor and humanity into the frame. This may be his best, most emotionally complete performance to date. The crime – or genius – of the 90-plus minute film is that he’s not doing it sooner.
Palmer too brings heart and warmth to this socioeconomic-inequity riff, which is pointed and provocative in its portrait of those working hard and still struggling while those in the catbird seat benefit threefold from their labors. The point is well made even without the unnecessary, heavy-handed rehash at the end. Reeves leans in some on the naïveté of a Chance the gardener from “Being There” (1978) and his John Wick matter-of-fact coldness (yes, both are so), describing his fall from grace as “The other day I was a celestial being, now I’m a chain-smoking dishwasher.”
Gabriel’s entry into our mortal life is a refreshing lens, and after seeing “Good Fortune” your strawberry milkshakes, chicken nuggets and tacos will have sudden, divine appeal. It’ll also make you reflect on how much we take for granted in the everyday and of those who deliver those treats to our door.
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