Review (Scott McCutcheon 16/10/25)
There’s nothing particularly original about Good Fortune,
search body swap comedies on the net and you’ll get a list as long as your arm,
but, thanks to a wonderful deadpan performance from Keanu Reeves as a “budget”
guardian angel called Gabriel, it turns out to be one of the better entries in
the overcrowded genre.
Written and directed by Aziz Ansari, it’s his directorial
debut, Good Fortune sees Ansari playing Arj, a down on his luck delivery
driver, who, after being sacked from his second job as an assistant to wealthy
businessman named Jeff (Seth Rogan), falls asleep in Dennys only to wake up and
find that the angel Gabriel (Reeves) who’s angel job is to protect drivers from
texting and crashing whilst driving, offers to let him change his life with the
wealthy Jeff. Gabriel’s intention being to show Arj that wealth isn’t
everything
Unfortunately for Gabriel, Arj thinks that wealth is
everything and he refuses to switch back with Jeff. This leads to Gabriel
losing his wings and being sent back to earth as a human where he becomes
roommates with the now poor Jeff.
Comedy films in the cinema have all but disappeared and Good
Fortune feels pretty much like a relic from the past. It might not be the
greatest comedy ever but thanks to terrific performances from its three leads
Good Fortune feels like a small oasis in a cinema landscape that’s constantly
peppered with nothing but morose dramas.
