Good Fortune

Arj (Aziz Ansari) is constantly strapped for cash. He picks up odd jobs, can’t afford rent, and sleeps in his car until it’s towed for unpaid tickets. Jeff (Seth Rogen), on the other hand, is a wealthy investor living a life of extravagant ease. So who can blame Arj for wanting to trade places? The opportunity arises when Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) enters the picture. He’s a third-rate angel with grand ambitions and very limited powers, mostly tasked with watching over people who text and drive. A cosmic mix-up results in an unexpected life swap, with consequences no one saw coming. Good Fortune channels the spirit of Nora Ephron’s Michael and John Landis’s Trading Places, but Ansari isn’t simply riffing on old favorites. Instead, he uses familiar tropes to look critically at a world, not just America, where labor rights are ignored and corporate wealth feeds off the losses of the working poor. While Ansari recently drew (deserved) criticism for performing at a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, Good Fortune is a sharp reminder that his comedic instincts, and his heart, remain in the right place.