We all know the common parable. A person suffering and at the end of their ropes suddenly receives a supernatural visitor to convey to them that their life has meaning and value if they’ll only stop and recognize it, punctuating the point by showing what their life would be like had it turned out another way -had they had somebody else’s life instead of their own perhaps. They realize their value and move forward with a new lease on the life they live. It’s a cozy narrative. Unfortunately for a lot of people it is completely wrong. It’s a nice sentiment to say that money won’t solve all your problems, but in such a money-dependent horribly lopsided society as ours, for a lot of folks money will indeed solve all their problems.
That is the central joke at the heart of Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune -his directing debut, a movie that is not only a subversion of popular morality tale, but in doing so is a biting indictment on the effects of the wealth gap in the modern era. Principals and faith and spiritual enlightenment mean squat if you’re living in a van with less and less prospects every day -all while a rich tycoon engages in the most ridiculously wasteful activities from his place of privilege. Those old-fashioned sentiments aren’t entirely absent from the film, but Ansari is highly cognizant of the fact they aren’t nearly enough in a realistic sense.
He also stars in the movie as Arj, a destitute man and once aspiring documentarian in Los Angeles, homeless and living off of menial gig work that often leaves him frustrated and demoralized. He is noticed however by Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), a low-ranking guardian angel who empathizes with Arj's plight -in part likely due to his own dissatisfaction with his job of merely saving people who text while they drive. After a brief stint as an assistant to an eccentric tech millionaire Jeff (Seth Rogen), Arj is at his whit's end when Gabriel intervenes, to convince him his life has value and is worth living. And to show him that money and power is not all it's cracked up to be, he switches Arj's life with Jeff's -only for it to backfire spectacularly by Arj vastly preferring this new existence and not wanting to switch back, leaving Gabriel in a conundrum and Jeff for the first time ever having to experience what the world is like for the disenfranchised.
What Ansari does particularly well here even before the swap is define the social parameters of his world incredibly starkly and in a vividly relatable way. The specifics of the service Arj works with may be false or exaggerated, but so many in this modern, dour economic climate can relate to depending on good client reviews for freelance work to stay afloat (thus enduring several indignities with a smile) or lacking the resources to pursue one's passions when all energy has to be expounded on simply making money to afford to eat. And it all becomes even more pronounced when Jeff, used to his silver spoon, is having to live like this. There is certainly some karma exercised in putting him through it, but Ansari's overarching point is that nobody deserves this kind of a life, which we see in a comic yet realistic vision courtesy of Gabriel, has very limited avenues for progress -every apparent step forward coming with a considerable downside.
The movie satirizes low-income life without ever seeming mean, and indeed includes a subplot wherein Arj's love interest and one-time co-worker Elena (Keke Palmer) endeavours to unionize the employees of the hardware store where she works. More fun is had with the cavalier lifestyle of Jeff (and subsequently Arj), and how easy everything is when nothing is limited by money. Even Jeff's tech CEO duties are something Arj is able to bluff his way through. He has no responsibilities and nothing to prove, living in luxury and partying every day. Jeff meanwhile has to contend with the atrocious realities of the gig economy -and Gabriel does too, his foul-up landing him on Earth as a mortal until Arj chooses to right things.
Ansari, Rogen, and Reeves make for a great trio here, each a fitting counterpoint to the other two in demeanour, motivation, and comic style. Though he's got his usual manic one-liners, Ansari is surprisingly grounded as the regular guy downtrodden by the system. Though doing much of his usual schtick, Rogen is as natural as the blissfully ignorant rich idiot as he is the frustrated working man -and quite a bit of fun as the latter especially. Palmer and Sandra Oh, as chief angel Martha, make for good foils too. But it is Reeves who handily walks away with the movie. It may have been forgotten in the cloud of his John Wick era, but Reeves has an often underutilized gift for comedy, especially if written to his strengths of ironic stoicism and deadpan delivery -and there is plenty of that in this movie. Playing Gabriel as a weary and confused but open-minded fish out-of-water, Reeves gets a lot of the best laughs for merely his unique readings of a line or reaction, his occasionally Ted Theodore Logan-like naivety, and his decidedly stiff physicality (just the look of those tiny wings on his lanky back is hilarious) -there are some memes here waiting to happen. Yet he is also the lifeblood of the movie, his sincerity towards Arj endearing for how out-of-touch it is.
Despite the film's subversive track, it still tries to validate a more traditional message -it hasn't the cynicism to suggest that supernatural intervention is required to make worth living the life of a struggling person. Elena is in some ways an avatar to this, in the same position in either situation, but working to actively make the lives of her and her colleagues more fair and affordable, as opposed to Arj in the first act merely stewing in his misery. She is the guiding star for him in more ways than one, possibly better than Gabriel at getting him to appreciate his former life. This could feel cheap and disingenuous given the wider narrative and themes of the story apart from that, but Ansari is sure to emphasize in concert with this the responsibility of the powerful. Arj and Jeff must equally experience an enlightenment -for Jeff it involves empathy and consideration towards those lower on the totem pole, a Scrooge redemption moment that he articulates ultimately in a very pointed manner that both the working and ruling classes should be paying attention to ardently. There are problems in equating these journeys somewhat, and Jeff isn't asked to give up his wealth (the 'eat the rich' crowd may be disappointed at that) but the movie couldn't arrive at a satisfying endpoint whilst keeping its convictions without some thematic mirror between the two. Ansari aptly finds the right chemistry.
There are some manufactured bits of urgency here and there, specifically Arj falling into a coma and subsequently faking memory loss to back out of a deal made with Jeff. And there is some convolution in the trajectory of Gabriel's fortune -his becoming mortal and having to deal himself with life in the grind a plot I suspect was purely included to have fun with Reeves and draw him into the story's primary conflict. Yet these are all handled fairly well and with good humour. The only casualty may be the pacing of Arj's arc -his coming around to giving his old life a second chance almost reads as motivated purely out of Elena being disillusioned by his privilege. Although that too makes for a very strong comment -the ways in which wealth changes a person not born into it. It takes literal days of Arj's new life for him to become condescending towards those on a lower social scale; in the same time Jeff is forced to abandon virtually all his presumptions -he can't afford to be particular about anything.
Though it is not as visceral or uncompromising as something like One Battle After Another, Good Fortune speaks to its times in almost as strong a way. A very blunt refutation of the American Dream and the capitalist mindset that skewers any faux optimism around succeeding in that system on anything other than blind luck, its ample humour and very relatable contextual framing makes it as accessible as it is pointed. There's nothing remarkable about Ansari's direction, but his script is quite sharp, especially as he, Rogen, and most of all Reeves interpret it through their distinct energies. No divine intervention necessary.
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