Bold move Aziz Ansari. The writer/director of Good Fortune went one further. Instead of just being inspired by Trading Places and Scrooged, he basically merged them together. That’s right, Good Fortune is the love child of the two best class comedies of all time…and thankfully, mostly does them good service despite Gabriel’s (Keanu Reeves) involvement.
Gabriel is a lower tiered angel run by Martha (Sandra Oh); he’s only supposed to stop people from texting and driving. After witnessing another incredible lost soul story from Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson), Gabriel decides to find his own lost soul to help. He settles on Arj (Aziz Ansari), a gig worker recently laid off from being venture capitalist (VC) Jeff’s (Seth Rogen) assistant. Gabriel gives Arj Jeff’s life and vice versa, in hopes Arj will find the joy in his own, but it turns out seemingly infinite money can really get rid of more problems than Gabriel realizes.
Good Fortune almost gets there. There’s enough decent material in here for the movie to deliver some solid punches upward to the rich, but that’s not the film’s comedic goal. In fact, the best jokes here are more for Keanu, who jumps right into his material with aplomb, as an angel learning how to be a real human. Ansari’s script is more interested in the mentality of people on polar opposite ladder rungs rather than the dark hearts of the movie’s two parent films. He and Seth Rogen get two play two different versions of their character depending on where on the socioeconomic ladder they are. That juxtaposition is Ansari’s point: when you’re poor, you’re so stressed out and overworked you can’t help but be angry and pissy all the time; and if you are free of those concerns like Jeff at the start? Everything is always chill, but all your perspective goes out the window as to what a real struggle looks like.
Ansari’s other focus is the gig economy. He modernizes the working class struggle but keeps it universal at the same time. There are promises everywhere: be your own boss, hard work = more money. But these promises really fall apart the minute they go under any inspection by people like Arj. Workers are trapped in the middle between companies who don’t want to hire them and customers pissed their food didn’t come with two ranch cups, resulting in a 1 star rating. That rating then feeds an algorithm preventing you from getting good customers anymore, further dropping your rating as you get pissed. And, if you try to bring this up to support, they just wash their hands of the situation, while robots/AI come for the work anyways. Those threats still land for some though like Arj, scared to speak up while the girl he likes Elena (Keke Palmer) tries to convince Arj to join him and unionize for a better life. Most of this is done amusingly as robots get higher ratings than Jeff or Arj, or the complaints are ultra silly. But underneath those jokes is real pain, which Ansari brings to light with an honest tone.
So if you want more acidic bombs towards the gig economy winners, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. Instead let Gabriel give you a chance to live out a crazy life for a few weeks, like a mini vacation. Or at least help teach you Salsa, which apparently Keanu just knows. Man, is there anything that guy can’t do?