Good Fortune – Review

As an angel with tiny wings Gabriel (Reeves) overlooks the Los Angeles freeway, he knows his duty: Texting & Driving. He jumps between vehicles, knowing he must save people from accidents, or running into pedestrians, as they focus on their phones and not what is in front of them. It is a modest job in the angel world, and he wishes he could handle something more, like tsunamis and monsoons, or even better, lost souls.

He stops Arj Ibrahim (Ansari) from crashing, as he focuses more on a text saying that a job he was hoping for is not available to him. This makes Arj feel pretty low, as his life has not been going well. He works at a hardware store, and takes “TaskSergeant” and "Foodzr" jobs helping people pick up orders or do various odd jobs to try and make ends meet. Despite all the work, he lives in his car, and cannot afford life.

He gets a quick few TaskSergeant jobs for Jeff (Rogan), a balling venture capitalist/tech bro. While initially this gives a peak into the good life, things turn sour after Arj takes his coworker hottie Elena (Palmer) to a snooty restaurant for a dinner date, at Jeff’s suggestion. Not having the money to settle up, Arj uses Jeff’s card and gets fired after, despite offering to pay him back.

Things could not get worse for Arj after his car/home is towed after unpaid tickets. He is ready to end it. Gabriel has been following him, after noting Arj’s depression after the texting & driving save. He has aspirations to show Arj that sometimes money can’t solve everything, and wants to save this lost soul. A quick re-arranging of the heavenly world sends Arj into Jeff’s life. But... this may not solve everything, especially as Arj does not want to go back, and has learned no lessons. Chaos ensues.

Good Fortune is a pretty ridiculous time, including many realistic observations on life, social commentaries, takes on struggling to get by, and all kinds of relationships. The actors are all used to comedy, and drive in enough seriousness to keep it somehow a bit realistic despite the crazy premise. It is pretty fun to watch the players realize their characters as they all get to do varied takes on their characters, depending on which situation is playing out. This is not a “body-swap” movie, more like a “life-swap” event with a twist or two, and despite some of that premise being seen in other stories, this one remains creative and fun.