Good Fortune

Aziz Ansari's debut as a writer/director stars Keanu Reeves as an eager but not too swift angel named Gabriel, assigned to the low-risk duty of preventing people from getting into accidents when they text and drive, who decides to help a struggling gig worker, played by Ansari, by meddling in his life and that of a wealthy venture capitalist, played by Seth Rogen. There are a lot of things in that sentence that would make me wary of wasting time with this movie, but this is why I go to movies cold: every once in a while, I'm pleasantly surprised. That's not to say Good Fortune is some wonderful little gem, but its whimsical 1930s-style comedic premise, produced with contemporary sensibilities, won me over.

Ansari, Rogen, and Reeves make a surprisingly winning trio as they navigate a story that feels fresh and relatively unpredictable. The film might have benefited from a few more gags, but I always appreciate it when a modern comedy isn't so desperate to get laughs that it degrades its characters or undermines its narrative credibility. I went to this movie randomly; it was what was playing while I had some time between commitments, and often this is not an ideal way to see a film, as my mind wanders if the story doesn't engage me. But I took a shine to these characters and their amusing predicament, a fun spin on the dependable body-swap genre and the old angel-trying-to-get-his-wings story.