By George & Josh Bate
After a controversial cancellation, Aziz Ansari mounts a career comeback with Good Fortune, a clever and witty new comedy with something poignant to say.
Starring, written by, produced by, and directed by Ansari, Good Fortune follows Arj, an Indian American man living in his car and struggling to make ends meet. While making money from odd jobs, Arj unexpectedly secures a position as the assistant to Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy businessman, but soon hits rock bottom nonetheless. After sleeping at a Denny’s and having his car (and, therefore, home) towed, Arj is visited by Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), a lowly angel wishing to help him out. To convince Arj that being wealthy like Jeff wouldn’t solve all of his problems, Gabriel uses his angel powers to swap Arj and Jeff’s lives with one another. However, the grand lesson Gabriel hopes to impart goes awry as Arj’s life gets exponentially better with Jeff’s wealth, making him not want to make the swap back.
It’s rare for a comedy to sport three superb comedic lead performances, but Good Fortune does exactly that. Although straddling a tight 97-minute runtime, Ansari’s directorial feature debut has a constantly moving, always developing plot that gives room for three distinct character arcs to emerge.
The entry point into the story is Ansari’s Arj, whose struggles with income and housing will hit all too close to home for some. Reeves’ Gabriel takes a fascination in Arj, diverting from his assigned angel task of saving people texting while driving from dying to give him a new outlook on life. In one of the movie’s funniest scenes and showcasing some clever subversion of the whole Freaky Friday-esque body swapping trope, Arj doesn’t like the life of poverty he has ahead of him, hilariously commenting on the dead dog he has to look forward to in the future. Gabriel, hoping to do some good, swaps Arj with his employer Jeff’s life only to realize that the lesson he wanted to convey to Arj doesn’t land. Holes in the wide criticism of the whole ‘money doesn’t buy you happiness’ are poked throughout a sharp script that sees Ansari pull no punches to how much better a life of wealth is than a life of poverty. Not for a second does Arj miss making endless food deliveries and being moved on from car parking lots after he’s caught sleeping in his car. Arj’s unexpected reaction to the body swap alone makes for a fun twist on this trope and serves as a simple, yet effective counter-argument to the idea, often pushed by movies like Trading Places, that being poor isn’t all that bad.
As the film moves along, Seth Rogen’s Jeff becomes a more prominent fixture of the story. While Arj is living it up enjoying Jeff’s wealth, Jeff has adopted all of Arj’s problems. And soon Reeves’ Gabriel does too as his angel boss Martha (Sandra Oh) strips him of his wings for creating such a messy situation. Seeing Rogen and Reeves, who definitely leans into his dopey performance from Bill & Ted here, bounce lines off another as they try to prevent homelessness, wrangle with food delivery robots, sleep together in the same dingy motel bed, and more proves endlessly entertaining. Much like Arj’s desire to never have this body swap situation end, we as viewers found ourselves not wanting the movie to end as watching the buddy antics of Reeves and Rogen just consistently delivered laugh and laugh.
The pivot to Rogen and Reeves, however, moves Ansari’s character to the side. There are large stretches in the second half in which Ansari doesn’t even appear, as the advancements in story and bulk of interesting character work lies with Rogen and Reeves’ characters. Eventually, the film circles back around to Ansari, but the positioning and then repositioning of characters from leads to side players makes the film feel somewhat uneven at times.
Make no mistake though – Ansari is given plenty of opportunities to flex his comedic muscles. It’s been over 10 years since Ansari was in a feature film and eight years since his starring turn in Master of None came to an end, but the South Carolina native doesn’t seem to have missed a step with his grand theatrical return. Ansari nails his trademark, high-pitched joke delivery and pens a hilarious script that allows him and his co-stars to engage in a range of different, witty jokes. Ansari works just as well behind the camera with an assured directing effort. Ansari is no stranger to directing, having helmed 11 episodes of Master of None, but Good Fortune marks his first step into directing a full length feature, a step he takes with remarkable grace and confidence. As far as comebacks go, Ansari could hardly have hit it out of the park than he does here.
In large part, Ansari’s success with the movie comes down to his coupling of consistently funny jokes with something important to say. Good Fortune is far more nuanced than the similarly plotted Trading Places, instead feeling more like a mix of A Christmas Carol, Freaky Friday, and It’s a Wonderful Life. Ansari imbues the film with striking messaging about wealth disparity seldom seen to this degree in a big studio release. Although him and Rogen’s Jeff struggling to make ends meet opens the door to many great comedic moments, they also imbed a commentary far more serious and relevant. Good Fortune demonstrates how life, for so many people, has become unlivable – how even making the most basic of ends meet is near impossible – and how ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ may truly be bullshit. A particularly cynical viewer may find the film disingenuous in that this message is coming from wealthy people working for a wealthy studio, but, for us, the film should be commended for having audiences ponder these ideas, encased in a more approachable comedy.
Unfortunately, at the last hurdle, Good Fortune stumbles. Instead of committing to a bolder, more subversive ending, the film lands in a fairly predictable place. It’s a disappointingly easy cop-out of an ending that, while satisfying in tying all the loose ends up and concluding on a heartfelt note nonetheless, leaves one wishing for a less safe ending to this story.
VERDICT: 8/10
Aziz Ansari mounts a career comeback with Good Fortune, a clever, witty, and genuinely funny comedy with something poignant to say. Serving as an incredible vehicle for Ansari’s writing, acting, directing, and producing capabilities, the new Lionsgate release hooks with an interesting premise that blends Freaky Friday and Trading Places with A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. The film sports three superb comedic performances from Ansari, Seth Rogen, and Keanu Reeves, the latter of whom embraces the dopey yet endearing sensibilities of Ted from Bill & Ted. Story developments see Ansari awkwardly relegated to the side for much of the second half, although the buddy antics between Rogen and Reeves that this affords are worth the price of admission alone. In a bold move, Ansari couples his film’s consistently funny sense of humor with poignant messaging about wealth disparity, difficulties making ends meet nowadays, and the ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ sentiment. Ansari offers a far more nuanced take on these themes than the likes of Trading Places in showing, both in humorous and dramatic fashion, how unlivable life has become for so many. Unfortunately, Good Fortune fails to match its strong commentary with a bold, more subversive ending, instead landing in a fairly predictable and safe place. This ending, however, doesn’t diminish the vibrant heart and well-intentions of the film, which are felt strongly throughout. Good Fortune hits hard with its comedy and commentary, making it a film as funny as it is relevant.