Film Review: Good Fortune

Good Fortune
Director: Aziz Ansari
Garam Films, Oh Brudder Productions
Keep Your Head, Yang Pictures
In Theaters: 10.17.2025

When we go to a movie theater, it’s easy to prioritize big, effects-driven blockbusters as the movies that we feel have to be experienced on the big screen. I like a certain amount of bang for my buck as much as the next person, but the cinematic experience isn’t just about visuals, or about the size of them. It’s about that intangible shared moment when an audience reacts as one, and there’s no more powerful shared moment than a hearty laugh. Good Fortune could have easily been relegated to steaming, and truthfully, that’s probably where it will find a following. But it deserves to be seen in a theater.

Gabriel (Keanu Reeves, The Matrix, John Wick) is guardian angel, but he’s at the bottom of the celestial ladder — his one and only duty is to tap people who text and drive on the shoulder and stop them from getting in an accident. He’s longing for a promotion to saving lost souls and turning their lives around like his hero, Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences, Dune). One day, Gabriel takes an interest in Arj (Aziz Ansari, Parks and Recreation), a down-on-his-luck handyman, when Gabriel sees Arj send a text saying he feels like giving up on life. When Arj gets a job as a personal assistant for a wealthy tech bro, Jeff (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up, The Studio), and meets a woman, Elena (Keke Palmer, Hustlers, Nope), things are starting to look up, until he makes a bad choice and loses his job. After Arj falls asleep in a Denny’s booth and wakes to find his car towed, Gabriel decides to step in. To teach him that money can’t fix everything, Gabriel magically swaps Arj’s life with Jeff’s. But the plan backfires — Arj thrives in Jeff’s rich, comfortable world, and Gabriel’s meddling costs him his wings. Cast out of heaven and forced to live as a human, Gabriel becomes roommates with the now-displaced Jeff. As the two navigate their new lives, Gabriel discovers that his well-intentioned interventions may have thrown the entire balance of his angelic work into chaos.

Good Fortune plays a lot like a modern-day variation on It’s A Wonderful Life mixed with Heaven Can Wait, but with a great deal more F-Bombs than either of those films. While the latter part isn’t particularly necessary, this isn’t meant to be a family comedy; it’s aimed at grown-ups. In fact, it’s specifically aimed at grown-ups who are at the age of seriously questioning their life choices and feeling hopeless and desperate, so the use of harsher language more than makes sense. The screenplay, by Ansari, is consistently funny and insightful, offering a keen perspective on what it’s like for a normal person to try to make any kind of headway in today’s economy. I found myself wondering whose job it was to advise the guy who just got paid an obscene amount of money to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival on what it’s like to be a living off driving for DoorDash in 2025, but it’s captured accurately regardless. This is a comedy that relies on situations and characters, relatability and creativity rather than just being a collection of gags, and we don’t see nearly enough of those anymore. 

The ensemble is delightful, with Rogen and Ansari playing their roles perfectly, but it’s Reeves’ movie all the way. The iconic action star’s effortlessly lovable performance as Gabriel recalls the image we had of him back in the early ‘90s when he was known for movies such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but there’s an added maturity this time, and he plays the character with such a sincere innocence that I dare anyone not to find him absolutely adorable. Palmer is a great presence who adds a lot to the film, Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) is amusing as Martha, Gabriel’s boss, and Sherry Cola (Joy Ride, Shortcomings) is a major scene stealer in a cameo as a girl at a party who falls for Gabriel. 

Good Fortune is a thoroughly enjoyable and surprisingly deep movie that provides plenty of laughs without ever losing sight of the fact that it’s meant to tell a story, and it has all of the makings of a minor classic. Yes, it will play fine at home, but we need more movies like this in theaters, and the only way to encourage Hollywood to take those kinds of chances is if audiences actually go see them. If you take a chance on this one, you’ll feel fortunate indeed. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews from Patrick Gibbs:
Film Review: After the Hunt
Film Review: Tron Ares