{"id":32262,"date":"2025-10-16T21:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T04:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32262"},"modified":"2025-10-16T21:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T04:13:07","slug":"good-fortune-isnt-quite-as-prosperous-as-hoped-for-but-is-still-an-enjoyable-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32262","title":{"rendered":"GOOD FORTUNE Isn\u2019t Quite as Prosperous as Hoped For, But is Still an Enjoyable Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 98 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Lionsgate opens exclusively at theaters\non October 17th<\/sup>, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, there have been plenty of movies featuring guardian angels, from It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> to Heaven Can Wait<\/em>, Wings of Desire <\/em>and its loose remake, City of Angels<\/em>. The new comedy Good Fortune <\/em>attempts to add a wrinkle or two to that formula, taking extra inspiration from Trading Places<\/em> and comedies in which characters swap lives. Admittedly, there are so many reference points that the picture can\u2019t help but feel overly familiar. But when it takes on an old trope in an original way, the charming cast ultimately eke out laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arj (Aziz Ansari) is a financially strapped and depressed\nfilm editor in Los Angeles who can\u2019t find work. To survive, he has become a\n\u201cTasker\u201d, standing in line and running errands for wealthy clients. One of\nthose individuals is Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy entrepreneur who lives in a\nmansion. Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is a junior guardian angel assigned to \u201ctexting\nand driving\u201d, helping distracted motorists look up before they get into\naccidents. The spirit isn\u2019t particularly thrilled by his low-ranking position,\ninstead wanting to guide a lost soul and help them find the right path. Gabriel\nbelieves that Arj is that person and ignores orders from superior Martha\n(Sandra Oh). He appears and attempts to inspire Arj by having him take Jeff\u2019s\nplace in life. This approach does nothing to change the editor\u2019s beliefs. Not\nonly is Gabreil fired from his position, but he and Jeff end up on the streets.\nAll three lost characters are forced to find new hope and purpose in their\nexistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Co-star Aziz Ansari wrote and directed the film, and as one\nmight expect, there is some highly amusing interplay between the characters and\nverbal jabs between its leads. It\u2019s quite funny to hear Arj\u2019s disappointment\nwith being given an inexperienced guardian angel, and Gabriel doesn\u2019t do much\nto convince the struggling figure to live a noble and humble existence. Every\nidea he has, from showing Arj his future with the girl of his dreams Elena\n(Keke Palmer), to letting him live an obscenely rich but empty life does not\nresult in the hoped-for reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It results in plenty of fun material, as does Gabriel\u2019s turn\nafter essentially being fired and forced to live from paycheck to paycheck on\nEarth. Reeves is hilarious as his heavenly messenger becomes an average human.\nWhether he is trying food for the first time or is forced to get a job washing\ndishes for little pay, the character\u2019s journey is impressive to watch. The\nstory is particularly effective as he experiences Arj\u2019s troubles first-hand, eventually\nbecoming a chain-smoker and losing sight of his own ambitions. When Arj,\nGabriel and Jeff are reacting to the confounding new problems being put in\nfront of them, the movie is a blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alas, as it progresses, the plot eventually begins to feel\nconventional. These characters don\u2019t strongly dislike each other and so there\u2019s\nless tension between them than expected. Everyone gets the big message quickly\nand begins to have overly earnest heart-to-heart conversations towards the\nclose. While the relationships are sweet and the note that working conditions\nare horrid for many is a welcome one, the themes aren’t delivered with any\nsubtlety and the script rushes to tie up every plot thread. And while this is\nmore of a hangout movie than one involving big obstacles, the ending doesn\u2019t\nresonate as strongly as hoped for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This film offers a couple of entertaining twists on stories involving guardian angels. But one feels like it could have gone a little further and taken a few edgier and more eccentric detours (especially with Arj\u2019s attraction to materialistic wealth). At least it\u2019s still fun to watch these charming performers, who carry the film through a few rough patches. Good Fortune\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t quite as prosperous as hoped for, but is still an amiable and enjoyable comedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 98 minutes This feature from Lionsgate opens exclusively at theaters on October 17th, 2025. Over the years, there have been plenty of movies featuring guardian angels, from It\u2019s a Wonderful Life to Heaven Can Wait, Wings of Desire and its loose remake, City of Angels. The new comedy Good Fortune attempts to add […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,1430,2121,4660,8493,8494,8495,8496,11533,12473,17622,18073],"class_list":["post-32262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-angels","tag-aziz-ansari","tag-comedy","tag-good-fortune","tag-good-fortune-film-review","tag-good-fortune-movie-review","tag-good-fortune-review","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-lionsgate","tag-sandra-oh","tag-seth-rogen"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}