Well, GOOD FORTUNE is certainly not an art film. On one level, it’s a rather quaint romp, which has its good points, and is often mildly amusing. Certainly members of the preview audience were prompted to laugh out loud at strategic moments in the narrative, and applaud vigorously at the end. It’s a supernatural comedy which can’t be taken literally, but it has its charms.
The star of this film, the Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, is best-known for his leading roles in action films. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him as the fourth greatest actor of the 21st century. So he comes to this role with an impressive record of achievement. Here he plays a rather hapless guardian angel Gabriel, whose main role, presumably given to him by God, is to prevent people crashing their cars when texting while driving. He is apparently a low-ranking angel, which is why his wings are relatively small compared to the larger wings of his supervising guardian angel Martha, who is played by Sandra Oh. Who would have thought that in the ranks of angels, there would be a pecking order?
The director of the film, and writer of the screenplay, Aziz Ansari, plays Arj, a struggling worker who works part-time at a hardware supplies store, and lives in his car. The third main actor, another Canadian Seth Rogen plays Jeff, a wealthy tech investor who dwells in a mansion, living a life of excess.
By coincidence I have a friend, a fervent Christian, who texts me passages from the Bible. Recently I received the following quote from Exodus: “God is sending His angels ahead of you to destroy any plans of the enemy. God’s got you covered. No fear, no worries, just trust in God.” I invited her to the preview but alas she couldn’t make it. I’m wondering what she would have made of the film or, indeed, of the role of God Himself, which was not prominent in the screenplay.
There’s an attractive sub-plot involving Arj’s dating of Elena, one of his co-workers at the hardware store. Played by the American actress Keke Palmer, who’s superb in the role, Elena is attempting to unionise the employees where they both work.
The gist of the film is that Gabriel is an angel with a social conscience. He’s willing to go beyond his prescribed duties in an effort to improve the lives of the people he observes, in particular the struggling Arj. After observing Arj’s accumulating difficulties Gabriel decides to use his powers to step in, and change the lives of Arj and Jeff. I won’t go into the complicated plot distortions which follow, but they result in comedic situations which form the basis of the film’s appeal.
Most of the laughs come by virtue of the agonising situations in which Gabriel has placed himself, by virtue of his imprudent over-reach.
Behind the narrative there are perceptive insights into the vagaries of the American economy. They’re to do with the fact that many ordinary workers in the US cannot make enough money to live on. Their wages are low, and the various characters in the film experience built-in hindrances which undermine their interests. The US economy of course varies considerably from the sort of economy we have in Australia where social policies include a variety of safety nets.
Ultimately this is a very worthwhile film, with excellent performances by the four main actors, and one feels an accumulating empathy with each of the characters they play. The charm of the film lies in how the complicated plot distortions are resolved in the end, and whether the main characters will enjoy a happy ending.
