Film Review: GOOD FORTUNE (2025): Keanu Reeves Plays an Angel Functioning in a Cruel World in This Mediocre Comedy
Good Fortune Review
Good Fortune (2025) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Aziz Ansari and starring Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Sandra Oh, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Blanca Araceli, Joe Mande, Aditya Geddada, Alexander Jo, Kristen Henley, Shoukath Ansari, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Erik Estrada Loaiza, Michael Arnold, Cam Barr, Addie Weyrich and Cari Shayne.
In Aziz Ansari’s fantasy movie, Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves plays Gabriel, an angel who helps people texting and driving put their heads up to avoid car accidents. When Gabriel wants to help a lost soul find happiness, Gabriel’s supervisor, Martha (Sandra Oh) doesn’t advise it. Gabriel soon tries to help the unemployed Arj (Ansari, himself) who lives out of his car while waiting for a big break to come his way. Arj meets a rich hotshot named Jeff (Seth Rogen), but when Arj and Jeff switch lives due to divine intervention, all hell breaks loose in this mostly unfunny comedy with low-budget production values. It is only redeemed in spurts by Reeves’ humorous turn as Gabriel. When the movie steers into Fight Club territory with commentary about the lower working classes, it sometimes strikes a nerve, but it’s an example of too little, too late.
Good Fortune is at its best when it shows how Gabriel desires to become human and get a job like everyone else so he can enjoy life. When it happens and Gabriel gets a job as a dishwasher, he is informed by his co-worker that people often need more than one job to make ends meets. Gabriel takes up smoking to deal with his frustrations and this is all bullseye material that the movie spends far too little time on than was needed.
Instead, much of Ansari’s movie focuses on his own character, Arj, who delivers food to make ends meet and stands in line for people as well in order to help them beat the crowds. One can feel sympathy for Arj, but when he takes over the lifestyle of Jeff, nothing particularly funny happens. Jeff is left to try to fend for himself and must rob his own former home during a dance party for survival cash. This movie has a lot to say about the differences between the rich and the working classes, but it all gets bogged down in lame jokes and mundane scenarios.
Keke Palmer, an excellent actress lost in the mix here, portrays Elena, a store employee who tries to organize a union to protect her and her co-workers. When Gabriel stumbles into a meeting and complains about the taxes coming out from his paycheck, the movie again strikes comic gold, but then it’s back to boring situations that don’t serve to progress the plot development all that much.
Stephen McKinley Henderson (always reliable) has one good scene as another angel called Azrael, but the rest of the supporting players are lost at sea here. For all the things the movie wants to say about wealth and success and the impossible road to the American dream, it undermines it all by saying that we have to just be good to one another and that’s the meaning of life. If that’s true (and it may well be), why put such emphasis on the struggles of low-paid workers? Good Fortune‘s biggest mishap is bringing to light important views and letting them get lost in the comedy shuffle that the film displays most of the time. This film would have been much stronger as a drama. If Nicolas Cage could play an angel in a dramatic film, Keanu Reeves could have done so too.
Good Fortune uses Seth Rogen well, but his work is not up to the standards the actor has set in his previous work. Rogen has made great films like Knocked Up and Long Shot. This film gives Rogen a supporting role which is a big step down for the talented comic actor. Reeves steals the show, and rightfully so, as the audience will enjoy the performance by the actor as Gabriel. When Gabriel lets loose on the dance floor, it’s a truly fun moment. This movie could make one recall the much better John Travolta film, Michael.
Ansari has a lot of potential as a comic actor. As a writer, he could have used some help fleshing out some of the arguments he makes here and, if he wanted to make this film more funny, better jokes could have been integrated into the premise. This movie makes an admirable stand in trying to help right the wrongs of society today. However, marketing it as a comedy with Keanu Reeves as a goofy angel wasn’t the way to go. Reeves is great, but this film could have been so much more than it actually is. When the old song, “Send Me an Angel,” plays during the ending credits, it’s a reminder of just how good this movie could have been with a little more polish. It’s only halfway where it needed to be in order to recommend.
Rating: 6/10
Leave your thoughts on this Good Fortune review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo
Related Articles
