Keanu Reeves brings an offhand charm to his guardian angel turn in “Good Fortune,” Aziz Ansari’s season-neutral “A Christmas Carol” parable about America in general and LA in particular as a land of have-a-lots and have-nots.
Whatever inspiration the comic Ansari found in the State of the Nation, his nods to Dickens, Frank Capra and anybody else who’s taken an interest in the struggles of the working poor, his gig economy update features a star who is practically channeling “Starman.” Reeves’ line-readings always have an other worldly quality.
Ansari stars as a designated loser — a documentary film editor who can’t find work and can’t afford to live in one of the most expensive places in the country (LA) doing meal deliveries and “Task Sergeant” chores in an economy where the people doing the work get the shortest end of the stick. Arj is, angel Gabriel notes, “a lost soul” who shows lots of signs of “giving up.”
Arj is living in his VW Golf, chased from parking lot to parking lot night after night, lying to his family about his living arrangments, despairing that “nothing ever changes.”
Gabriel pleads his case to his boss angel (Sandra Oh). But his duties are limited to keeping drivers from killing themselves while texting and driving. Aged and sage Azrael (the great Stephen McKinley Henderson) is the Lost Souls specialist. Some angels are responsible for literary and musical inspiration, some change the course of lives. Gabriel just taps on people’s shoulders in traffic to keep them from GIF/emoji/texting themselves to death.
Gabriel is supposed to intervene in Elena’s driving. She’s played by Keke Palmer, who tones down her often manic patter to play the heart of this story. Gabriel thinks Elena and Arj have a future together. But making himself known to the struggling part-timer only shows Arj, who just lost a promising “assistant” job with an entitled venture capitalist Jeff (Seth Rogen) what a soul-crushing, impoverished grind that a life with her will be with no money.
So Gabriel figures he’ll show Arj of Little Faith the way to enlightenment. He’ll sample the “shallow” and indulgent hilltop mansion life of luxury EVs and $250,000 watches that Jeff — who seems isolated by his money and insulated from consequences firing someone as desperate as Arj is.
A car getting towed can create a life and death crisis for someone in Arj’s income bracket. Jeff, the son of a surgeon and a lawyer, hasn’t a clue.
Ansari cast this well and has easy rapport with Reeves, Rogen and Palmer. His script touches on everything from labor organizing in big box stores to a big reason so many underpaid restaurant workers smoke.
“It’s all I’ve got.”
That’s what Gabriel clings to as he’s demoted for his screw ups and rendered into a chicken “nuggies,” milkshake, taco and burger loving mortal. He can’t afford his simple pleasures on a dishwasher’s salary. So he lights up and takes a resigned drag or two every time he gets a break.
The film avoids the Great Depression era movie trap of showing us the rich as just as miserable as everybody else. Having money reduces struggle, uplifts your social circle and improves your prospects for a mate that will be a part of a happier, easier life.
Ansari takes pains to demonstrate that the big difference between the comfortable and the struggling is money — being born with it, getting access to the education and contacts as part of that privilege. Rogen does a marvelous job of showing a guy blind to head start his life gave him, and yet still sweet enough to pity (not much) when it doesn’t look like he’ll ever get his money, his house, his watches and his status back.
But this satiric fantasy-comedy plays like a series of pulled punches. When you’re doomed to struggle, finding a reason to carry on without falling into substance abuse escape can seem pointless, which the script ignores. The role-playing switcheroo never really lands a blow or draws blood.
The leads are engaging and some jokes land. But none of them cut deep because there’s little edge to any of this. This isn’t “Meet John Doe” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” or even “Wings of Desire.” It’s a movie the bard Randy Newman summed up in a three and a half minute pop song decades ago.
Rating: R, drug use, profanity, smoking
Cast: Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Sandra Oh and Keke Palmer.
Credits: Scripted and directed by Aziz Ansari. A Lionsgate release.
Running time: 1:38
Movie Nation 