Good Fortune

Writing class critiques for big Hollywood movies is extremely difficult. It’s easy for a film to come across as phony as they say “eat the rich” when being financed by millionaire producers. That’s why films such as Parasite and Knives Out really shine since they get across their messages in a mature way. Good Fortune sadly misses that mark.

Good Fortune is Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut. He also stars in it as Arj, a homeless man struggling to get by. When he meets Jeff (Seth Rogan) his life is flipped upside down as Gabriel the angel (Keanu Reeves) meddles in their lives.

As stated, the main point that the film is trying to make is that rich people are bad. Now I agree with this one hundred percent, but the way they convey this feels incredibly cheap. While Rogan and Ansari give great performances, their characters feel so one dimensional and stereotypical. People like Arj exist, but most of the people who are watching this likely can’t relate exactly to his struggles. They can relate to struggling in general, but Arj’s situation feels so extreme that it borders on cartoony. This gives the impression that Jeff only disrupts the lives of people like Arj, which makes him look worse due to how much of a sorry state Arj is in. Yet, people like Jeff in real life most often take advantage of the average person. Sure, you may not live in your car like Arj does, but have you ever had to skip going to the doctors because you couldn’t afford it? The film skips over this completely which makes it feel very black and white.

The other message, that we should be happy just to be alive, seems very backhanded. This is realized by Gabriel after he becomes human. He suffers, but ultimately he comes to the realization that everything about living has merit. To combine this with a class struggle story feels demeaning, as in “You may be poor, but at least you can do things like have a good milkshake every once in a while.”

It doesn’t really knock it out of the park production wise either. It doesn’t do anything that terrible, but it doesn’t stand out. The film is pretty uninteresting visually with it looking pretty flat most of the time. The editing is really weird, as it uses a lot of whip transitions that just feel amateurish.

I will say that it is a little funny at times. Reeves really gives it his all with his character and makes him really likeable. The concept of an angel coming down to cause havoc to prove himself is also really fun, I just wish they did more with it.