Aziz Ansari tries to meld social commentary and comedy in his new film “Good Fortune,” about wealth disparity and the shackles of the gig economy. It’s populist territory that is ripe for a big screen skewering and Ansari, who wrote, directed and stars, is attempting something sincere, noble and broadly entertaining. But a modern day “Sullivan’s Travels” this is not.
“Good Fortune,” in theaters Friday, gets a little lost in the logistics of its familiar high concept premise, involving a guardian angel (Keanu Reeves) who makes the poor guy (Ansari) switch with the wealthy guy (Seth Rogen). In its attempts to be empathetic toward everyone, it ambles around between absurdity, social realism and Apatow-esque antics trying to find its groove. And yet nothing is ever quite laugh out loud funny, which is shocking considering the people involved, and its messages are essentially toothless.
Workers unite? Find joy in the small things?
Perhaps the idea that no matter how bad life gets there are always cheap tacos and dancing and laughter should be life-affirming. And yet it feels hollow, like fodder for an embroidered throw pillow in the discount bin, instead of what it should be: Frank Capra for the billionaire age.
Still, “Good Fortune” is the rare mainstream comedy that doesn’t turn its lens away from the tents and RVs all over Los Angeles and the plight of the omnipresent gig worker, toting food all around town and facing the wrath of a rating system that blames the driver for everything.
Arj (Ansari) is a kind of perfect victim, a college educated film editor who has found himself at the mercy of round the clock freelance work and still unable to afford a place to live. We see how unfair the app-based-for-hire system is in comedic situations: He stands in line for two hours for a viral cinnamon bun. When the shop runs out and the client cancels the transaction, he loses that money and that time.
Then there are all those parking and traffic tickets that keep coming, and one night while trying to charge his phone at a Denny’s, his car gets towed. It’s yet another bill he can’t afford to pay, and it gets more expensive every day.
He gets a sliver of hope when a wealthy venture capitalist named Jeff (Rogen) hires him to be his assistant on a one-week trial basis. Jeff lives a life of leisure and excess, in a Bel Air mansion where his biggest concerns are finding a disco floor for his birthday party and a shaman for an Ayahuasca trip. He’s a caricature of a VC bro and also basically a decent guy. But when Arj uses the company card to cover a personal expense which he promises to pay back, he’s sacked. That’s when Reeves’ guardian angel Gabriel decides to intervene.
Gabriel is a junior angel looking for more to do (because job dissatisfaction exists among celestial beings as well) and decides to save Arj though this little switcheroo. But it ends up backfiring because for Arj, things really are better with immense wealth, and the movie never quite figures its way out of that puzzle. There is no joy in watching Jeff live like common people for a week either, or Gabriel have his own crisis of self as a chain-smoking, hard drinking dishwasher at an all you can eat restaurant. Reeves is particularly underserved by the script, which basically only asks him to be a beautiful, well-meaning idiot.
Perhaps the writing staff of “The Studio” should have taken a pass on this screenplay. Or any number of the food delivery drivers Ansari shadowed while researching the movie, which does in fact resemble “Sullivan’s Travels,” but not in a flattering way.
The only character I wanted more of is Keke Palmer’s Elena, one of Arj’s co-workers at a hardware store who is mostly there as a plot device to show Arj that it is possible to love your minimum wage life, but somehow rises above as the most human of the bunch. “Good Fortune” has its heart in the right place, but it lacks a spark and internal engine that might have made it more entertaining, and ultimately impactful.
“Good Fortune,” a Lionsgate release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “language and some drug use.” Running time: 98 minutes. Two stars out of four.
By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer
