Photo © Lionsgate
Keanu Reeves in 'Good Fortune'
I think Aziz Ansari meant well when he sat down to write Good Fortune and really was trying to unpack the unfairness of the gig worker system in America and how easy it is to make one or two small mistakes and end up homeless and destitute. While Good Fortune has some solid ideas and funny performances (especially from Keanu Reeves), it ultimately feels like an out-of-touch attempt to write about poverty from the viewpoint of someone who has been wealthy for so long that struggling is just a distant dream.
Ansari plays Arj, a nearly destitute documentary editor barely making ends meet by delivering food and whatever other odd jobs he can find from day to day, week to week. He meets Jeff (Seth Rogan, solidly in his stoner giggle wheelhouse), a rich tech bro who hires Arj to be his assistant. As Arj desperately tries to make enough money to stop living in his car, his hopelessness is witnessed by Gabriel (a dryly perfect Keanu Reeves), an angel who is only allowed to protect people from accidents incurred from texting and driving. When Gabriel takes an interest in guiding Arj, he messes things up just enough to almost make for an entertaining screwball comedy.
I don’t know much about whatever nearly got Ansari canceled a few years ago, so I won’t speak to that, but as a writer and performer, I’ve enjoyed him for years. As much as I liked his work on “Parks and Recreation,” it was the series “Master of None” that proved he could balance his specific brand of comedy with nuanced and sometimes heartbreaking dramatic work, as well as provide some genuinely innovative filmmaking.
No Voice or Style
That’s what’s confusing about “Good Fortune.” Across three seasons of “Master of None,” Ansari worked with filmmakers like James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour), Alan Yang (The Good Place), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim) and the dearly departed Lynn Shelton (Your Sister’s Sister), while also directing a lion’s share of the series himself. Each one of these artists has a very distinct voice as a filmmaker, writer, or director. But Good Fortune, as entertaining as sections of the film can be, doesn’t really have an authorial voice or style. It feels like Ansari didn’t allow himself enough time in preproduction to craft any memorable shot compositions or rhythm to the filmmaking.
Across 97 minutes, we’re able to see quite a few of Ansari’s influences, like the heart of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, the humor of Trading Places, the optimism of It’s a Wonderful Life and the celestial touch of Heaven Can Wait. Sadly, “Good Fortune” feels like a hybrid monstrosity built from the limbs of those films without really nailing down what it was trying to say, other than “being poor is super difficult and most of life’s problems are fixed with money and influence.” Thanks. We got it.
I greatly respect that Ansari was attempting to tackle some of American society’s most glaring faults, but it feels like a hollow morality lesson coming from someone fresh from cashing the Saudi Arabian government’s massive checks for performing in Riyadh. What initially feels like Ansari thumbing his nose at capitalism, the naïveté of the rich, liberal mindset, the cowardly greed of union busting and the devaluation of the gig worker instead just lands as an intermittently funny homage to 1940s screwball comedies.
Keanu’s Comic Charisma
While that all sounds like a lot of complaining, the movie still almost works because of the comedic charisma of Keanu Reeves as a chain-smoking angel hooked on tacos and chicken nuggies and the charm and intelligence of a seriously underused Keke Palmer. Even as I shook my head at the sometimes insultingly myopic takes on poverty and destitution, I still wanted to spend time with Reeves and Palmer working their magic and effortlessly carrying the film on their movie star magnetism.
Again, I think Ansari meant well with Good Fortune and was genuinely trying to say something insightful about economic inequality and empathy, but it feels like the script got rushed into filming without taking the time to make sure those meaningful ideas came with some actual thoughtfulness. Even as the film manages a few mild laughs and cute moments, it feels like the product of someone out of touch and looking to reconnect with “regular Americans.” It doesn’t work. A rich guy telling me that being rich is awesome and that I still might find some joy in poverty pissed me off and soured what could have been a cute morality fable almost immediately. I wonder how Ansari will condescend to viewers next.
