Good Fortune
Good Fortune
Written & Directed by Aziz Ansari
On paper this is an absolute slam dunk. A supernatural body swap comedy starring Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen with Keanu Reeves as an angel from above. What we end up getting is a tonal mish mash that is only sporadically amusing and ultimately quite unsatisfying.
Aziz (who also wrote and directed in his feature debut) stars as a struggling out of work documentarian. Living in his car and taking thankless tasks as a gig worker, everyone in LA seems to be either super rich or struggling as bad as he is. Keanu is a low-level angel, his tasks are more to stop people from texting and driving. He wants to help Aziz so bad, one day he switches Aziz with Seth Rogen's wealthy venture capitalist. Hilarity does NOT ensue.
GOOD FORTUNE never really delivers on the premise. Is it a religious fable? A tale on greed? A satire about our current gig economy? Aziz's script tries to have its cake and it eat it too, but fails to really say anything new about anything. The messy script also doesn't quite thread the multiple storylines well at all. Aziz is the star, but for good chunks of the movie I wasn't exactly sure who is the main protagonist. Keanu and Seth's characters sometimes take over the movie, and I'm not sure who or what I am rooting for.
I will also lay blame 100% to Aziz for the terrible performances across the board. Nearly everyone is doing broad sitcom style acting, with wooden line deliveries aplenty. Either Aziz couldn't get the performances out of them, or they are all matching him because let's face it he can be funny at times but he is NOT a good actor. I love Keanu and don't blame him for fitting in.
In fact the occasional moments we have of Keanu meeting with other angels including his boss played by Sandra Oh (always a delight) tease a different better more interesting movie. The only other actor giving a natural performance is Keke Palmer as the love interest with very little to do other than her START A UNION storyline. Seth Rogen can sometimes be quite funny and charming...not here though!
Do not be fooled by the stacked cast and fun premise. Should've called this one BAD Fortune amirite?
☆1/2 out of 4
