Good Fortune - Movie Review

As with all movies on this website, our goal is not to provide a complete synopsis of the film, but rather to document how the movie relates to the meaning of life. With that said, be forewarned, there are still spoilers ahead.

Good Fortune is a comedy-drama film starring Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, and Keke Palmer; also written/directed by Aziz Ansari.

Aziz plays Arj, a broke gig worker struggling just to survive, living day to day, sleeping in his car and not having any direction in life. In fact, after learning of a job falling through, while driving he types up the text, All good. I'm ready to give up on my life anyway. Right as he is about to hit send, right as he is about to crash, there is a bit of divine intervention. His life continues and he never hits that send button.

Arj then meets Jeff (played by Seth), who does, God knows what—but that really doesn't matter, because he's swimming in money. Jeff having just fired his assistant, hires Arj, after Arj wangles his way in following a gig well done. For Arj, life is good again. He even meets a woman at one of his temporary jobs, Elena from lumber (played by Keke), and well, just like what happens when most men meet a woman in a movie thing, you know there are going to be sparks, and so there were.

Arj and Elena hit it off and out to dinner they go—go to a restaurant recommended by Jeff as an upscale but affordable option. The bill to the romantic dinner, even without the ribeye and even with sharing a single meal ... over $300. That's okay though, Arj, chock full of wine, high on pheromones, and with hormones raging from that aphrodisiac trout filet they shared, has the company credit card that Jeff gave him. Predictably, Arj is fired and back to the streets he goes. His car gets towed, and his life seems as if it cannot get any worse. Jeff, on the other hand, ends up at a psychedelic ayahuasca retreat.

Cue the trumpets, herald the end times, and call in the soulless Gabriel, a low-level angel with tiny wings whose sole purpose is to stop people from dying when they text and drive; and of course, Gabriel is played by none other than Keanu. Although Gabriel is fulfilling his purpose, saving lives, he is looking for something more meaningful, he is looking to save a lost soul. Because fulfilling his purpose and saving lives just isn't enough. He needs to help a single life find meaning, and in doing so, give his own existence meaning.

Gabriel with his tiny wings believes Arj is that lost soul and tries to make him see the light by making him do a little body swaparoo with Jeff, i.e., Arj is Jeff, and Jeff is Arj—because, yeah, having an endless amount of money, being able to do anything you ever dreamed of, can't ever bring life the same depth and meaning that good ole struggle can, or at least that is what Gabriel thinks. But, as it would turn out, Arj finds much joy in being rich and having all his problems solved.

Long story short, Gabriel gets to eat chicken nuggies and drink hooch, even smokes a cigarette or two too many, after losing his job as an angel. Arj ends up feeling guilty about taking Jeff's life and eventually succumbs to his lust for Elena, err, I mean, he realizes that his broke ass life actually is meaningful and worth living despite being shown his future and how bleak it was going to be (though it ended up not being as bleak as he thought it would, plus that future includes Elena). So, Arj goes back to being Arj, Jeff is back to being Jeff—Jeff with a bit more compassion, and Gabriel gets no more tacos. Or does he? The film ends with a bit of a cliff hanger here. But at least Gabriel got to learn what it was like to be human, because after all, angels, AI, whatever comes to be, will never comprehend the human existence if it is never experienced.

All of the characters go through some sort of struggle and find more meaning in their lives as a result. Dancing, laughing, and tacos help; especially when the struggle seems so pointless and life seems so empty. Just don't taco it up every day though (wisdom from Jeff).

Best quotes from the movie that relate to purpose and meaning:

Gabriel: Don't you see what's special about your life as it was? You see how superficial a life of wealth and success ultimately is?

Arj: No.

Martha: Gabriel, why did you do this?

Gabriel: I tried to show him that wealth wouldn't solve all his problems.

Martha: And?

Gabriel: It seems to have solved most of his problems.

Jeff: What has happened to you, Gabriel? You've just given up. You're smoking cigarettes now?

Gabriel: Leave me alone, Jeff. I like it. It's all I have.

The jokes mostly fell flat and though there were some lessons to be learned, they weren't lessons that haven't been told time and time again. There were a couple of great zingers here and there. But overall, we weren't impressed with this one.

Overall - 5

Meaning of Life Relevance - 6

Uniqueness – 2

Did you see the movie? What did you think? What did we miss? Comment below and let us know what your favorite kind of taco is.

#struggle #love #God #religion