MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Good Fortune Movie Review

It’ll take a miracle to come back from this (that or a good agent).

Matthew D. Smith also has a podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai. You can find it here.

Good Fortune (1hr 37mins)

Directed by: Aziz Ansari

Featuring: Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen

Synopsis: Gig worker Arj (Ansari) is struggling to the point of giving up on life; a well-meaning but inexperienced angel, Gabriel (Reeves), tries to help by swapping Arj’s life with venture capitalist Jeff’s (Rogen).

Review: Big screen comedies are making a comeback, they said, after the relative success of The Naked Gun. The promise and opportunity for more has sadly been wasted, like the audience’s time, with Good Fortune.

How ironic a title, the review writer thinks. I can’t possibly give up the chance to use the word ‘miracle’ sarcastically, he continues in his stupid inner monologue. Maybe it’s time for a biscuit, spurts the final fully intact brain cell.

So, the setup, lengthy as it is: Arj struggles to get by, taking on menial tasks like organising cluttered garages and picking up food, all for ungrateful people who routinely rate him at one star over inconveniences out of Arj’s control. He sleeps in his car and hope seems a distant prospect indeed.

Except it isn’t. Taking the opportunity when he can, he talks himself out of gig worker apps and into a job as a venture capitalist’s full-time assistant. He moves from his car to a motel, and his boss even lets him borrow clothes for a date. But it’s on this date where things go wrong.

Arj is then fired, and at this lower lowest point, Gabriel shows up and offers to swap Arj and his boss’ life, in order to show Arj that his life does have meaning.

It’s not even that Good Fortune is offensive or bizarre; arguably worse, it’s boring.

Despite being a shade over an hour and a half, the running time drags. After an hour, watches are being looked at. The film seems to be trying its best, but this house isn’t built on solid foundations. Structurally, it’s top-heavy, with the setup taking far too long and before we know it, the problem that’s introduced is already halfway solved. At least Good Fortune decides to try something a little different with the body swap sub-genre. But it needed to replace wacky hijinks with something more substantial. Aziz Ansari frowning at himself followed by a token montage sequence where Jeff, having learned his lesson too, tells everyone he’s going to pay workers more and not use AI doesn’t do the trick. No matter how hard the movie tries to make people like it, the damage is done and ninety minutes have been wasted.

Moments of laughter are few and far between. Sequences involving Reeves as an angel in the mortal world work best. In particular, a speech in front of a multitude of confused hardware store workers about chicken nuggets and dogs is genuinely very funny. If the film were as consistently good as this, Good Fortune would be a joy. But it’s one of the few scenes that actually work comedically.

Would that this were a case similar to Seth Rogen-starring Funny People, a movie hampered by its marketing (Judd Apatow knockabout comedy) not relating to the finished product (more personal drama that happens to be about comedians). But any dramatic stakes are barely there. It’s not even that Good Fortune is offensive or bizarre; arguably worse, it’s boring.

Ansari, formerly a minor player on Parks and Recreation and creator of the series Master of None, struggles here. He doesn’t have enough presence or skill to carry this movie, or tell the story in any meaningful way. His protagonist is just about likeable and relatable enough that the film isn’t a complete travesty (realistically, who wouldn’t act the same way as Arj does when given the option to live as an insanely rich person with no struggles in life?). But he garners less than a chuckle when onscreen, and his character’s deepest desperations come off as nothing more than something to whine about.

Sort of like someone who’s had an hour and a half wasted at a bad movie.

At time of writing, Good Fortune (a title this reviewer has had to remind himself of five times whilst writing this) is available to watch in cinemas.

Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on movies and TV shows whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter or enjoy the podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai.