Good Fortune (2025)
Gabriel just wants more out of life. His job as an angel is to keep people from getting hurt or killed while texting and driving. It seems like important work (and being a crossing guard, I can attest that it is), but it’s not enough. When he spies Adj, a gig worker who lives in his car, Gabriel seems to have found his lost soul.
The reality, though, is always more complicated, and Good Fortune is a cute, albeit slightly clumsy take on life in today’s economy. Simply put: While other people may appear to have it easy, nothing is as it seems.
The movie takes a sorta-It’s A Wonderful Life approach to the story, with Adj and his former employer, tech bro Jeff, switching places. The idea is that Adj will realize what a great situation he has and will switch back. All Adj can see, though, is no pay, no home, and no future, so Jeff’s posh life is just fine with him. Jeff can live out of his car and do gig work for practically nothing.
None of it is too bad, though, until Gabriel accidentally gives Jeff his real memories back, and then Jeff is horrified. There’s nothing he can do, though, until Adj decides to switch back. Gabriel, by overstepping himself, is turned human and has to learn how to be human. He’s never eaten before in his life, for instance. He also has to get a job, and since he has no skills, finds himself washing dishes. Jeff is in the same boat and not too pleased about it.
Where it gets really cool, though, is when the gap between all three worlds gets bridged and these guys start having a good time together regardless of income. And Gabriel discovers street tacos. And chicken nuggets.
Oh, and Keke Palmer plays Adj’s girlfriend, Elena, who he works with briefly at a hardware store and then meets at a taco stand, and while her character is pretty cool, she’s really incidental to the story because it’s about the three guys. If Adj is throwing a party, she might be there.
In the meantime, Elena wants to improve her job situation because she feels as if she’s being taken advantage of. And she serves to show Adj how his life could be regardless of income.
Good Fortune is unabashedly fun. Aziz Ansari is a good everyman, Seth Rogan is Seth Rogan and carries the comic aspect of the movie. Keanu Reeves as Gabriel delivers his lines, improbably, like he’s not used to talking like an adult. Or a human Which he isn’t.
Oddly enough, or maybe not, I kept getting flashbacks of a young Ted Logan and a young Bill S. Preston in Bill and Ted asking two princesses a certain important question:
“Will you go to the prom with us in San Dimas? We will have a most excellent time.”
This Keanu’s too old for this stuff, but he makes it work. While Gabriel might wash dishes for a living, being a human isn’t all bad. Being with other humans is a really nice thing.
I also liked that the movie shows LA as it is. The fancy parts. The dirty parts. The in-between parts. Lots and lots of homeless encampments. The blight is real. It’s not glamorous, but it’s reality, and admirably, the movie is matter-of-fact about every type of living situation. It doesn’t tear anyone down, although it makes no bones about the wasteland that is often today’s gig market, especially in California.
Speaking of which, and not to get political, but don’t even get me started on what Lorena Gonzalez and the monster she created, AB 5 has done to freelance writing in California. I’ll digress now, thanks.
Good Fortune could definitely have been funnier than it is, but it is genuinely entertaining. While it’s not nearly on the level of Frank Capra and It’s A Wonderful Life, it has its own piece to say, and it’s hard not to walk out of this movie smiling.
Good Fortune is currently in theaters. Rated R.
My grade: B+
Principal Cast: Keanu Reeves, Blanca Araceli, Aziz Ansari, Joe Mande, Aditya Geddada, Alexander Jo, Kristen Henley, Seth Rogan, Keke Palmer, Shoukath Ansari, Sandra Oh, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Erik Estrada Loalza, Wil Sylvince, Michael Arnold, Cam Barr, Addie Weyrich, Cari Shane
Written and directed by Aziz Ansari.