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’s 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 a wrinkle or two to that formula, taking extra inspiration from Trading Places and comedies in which characters swap lives. Admittedly, there are so many reference points that the picture can’t help but feel overly familiar. But when it takes on an old trope in an original way, the charming cast ultimately eke out laughs.
Arj (Aziz Ansari) is a financially strapped and depressed film editor in Los Angeles who can’t find work. To survive, he has become a “Tasker”, standing in line and running errands for wealthy clients. One of those individuals is Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy entrepreneur who lives in a mansion. Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is a junior guardian angel assigned to “texting and driving”, helping distracted motorists look up before they get into accidents. The spirit isn’t particularly thrilled by his low-ranking position, instead wanting to guide a lost soul and help them find the right path. Gabriel believes that Arj is that person and ignores orders from superior Martha (Sandra Oh). He appears and attempts to inspire Arj by having him take Jeff’s place in life. This approach does nothing to change the editor’s beliefs. Not only is Gabreil fired from his position, but he and Jeff end up on the streets. All three lost characters are forced to find new hope and purpose in their existence.
Co-star Aziz Ansari wrote and directed the film, and as one might expect, there is some highly amusing interplay between the characters and verbal jabs between its leads. It’s quite funny to hear Arj’s disappointment with being given an inexperienced guardian angel, and Gabriel doesn’t do much to convince the struggling figure to live a noble and humble existence. Every idea he has, from showing Arj his future with the girl of his dreams Elena (Keke Palmer), to letting him live an obscenely rich but empty life does not result in the hoped-for reaction.
It results in plenty of fun material, as does Gabriel’s turn after essentially being fired and forced to live from paycheck to paycheck on Earth. Reeves is hilarious as his heavenly messenger becomes an average human. Whether he is trying food for the first time or is forced to get a job washing dishes for little pay, the character’s journey is impressive to watch. The story is particularly effective as he experiences Arj’s troubles first-hand, eventually becoming a chain-smoker and losing sight of his own ambitions. When Arj, Gabriel and Jeff are reacting to the confounding new problems being put in front of them, the movie is a blast.
Alas, as it progresses, the plot eventually begins to feel conventional. These characters don’t strongly dislike each other and so there’s less tension between them than expected. Everyone gets the big message quickly and begins to have overly earnest heart-to-heart conversations towards the close. While the relationships are sweet and the note that working conditions are horrid for many is a welcome one, the themes aren’t delivered with any subtlety and the script rushes to tie up every plot thread. And while this is more of a hangout movie than one involving big obstacles, the ending doesn’t resonate as strongly as hoped for.
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’s attraction to materialistic wealth). At least it’s still fun to watch these charming performers, who carry the film through a few rough patches. Good Fortune isn’t quite as prosperous as hoped for, but is still an amiable and enjoyable comedy.