½
½
USA 2025
Opening October 16, 2025
Directed by: Aziz Ansari
Writing credits: Aziz Ansari
Principal actors: Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh
Start with a strong cast and good direction, add a screenplay that includes highlighting moral issues, plus enough puns and witticisms that inevitably someone is bound to believe in something. Enough so as to be noticed by an angel—wings and all. Heralding good fortune? Even when things are a little iffy and the question of luck is questionable? In this particular case it all starts with the buns… cinnamon buns to be exact.
The opening sequence introduces characters, and sets up background stories. As an angel, the bumbling Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), Texts & Driving, is watching over a few of them. Arj’s (Aziz Ansari) jobs consist of menial multi-service errands for people that have the money and not the time—nor, oftentimes the skills. Which is why he is standing in line waiting for buns for someone else, when Jeff (Seth Rogen) drives up and is hand delivered the goods. At his hardware gig, Elena (Keke Palmer) talks to Arj about joining the union that is being formed; later at a taco stand they serendipitously meet, finding more to talk about. Nevertheless, one setback after another and Arj’s feeling so despondent he attracts Gabriel’s attention again; when Martha (Sandra Oh) holds a management meeting for the group of angels she oversees, the report by Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson), Lost Souls, catches Gabriel’s imagination. He sees a connection to bigger wings; hence, he gets involved. Gabriel’s caught off-guard when his meddling triggers overreactions, abreactions, and a loss that oddly enough results in unexpected, unmitigated blessings.
When all the players are in place, writer-director Aziz Ansari begins having fun in his directorial debut comedy shuffling them hither and yon firmly under his control. Production values are solid: Adam Newport-Berra’s cinematography and Daniel Haworth’s editing. Carter Burwell owns the advice he gives regarding scoring films, “There's just too much music in movies… It's either lack of confidence on the part of filmmakers or a tradition of scoring things. It's always better to have less than to have more,” accompanied by well-matched popular songs, e.g., “Send Me an Angel.” It will be your lucky day for good laughs and entertainment by going to Good Fortune. Lots of takeaways, including the cautionary advice, be careful of the advice you give. 98 minutes (Marinell H.)
Another Opinion by Anne C.
½
Angel Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is busy tending to his duties to protect those who text while driving but he wants more. Inspired by an angel for lost souls, he wants to have an assignment with more meaning. His request for promotion to an angel for lost souls is denied by supervisory angel, Martha (Sandra Oh) because he’s just not quite good enough. Then he spots Arj (Aziz Ansari), a struggling gig worker who has several temp and part-time jobs but still can’t manage to make enough to live on. Gabriel has found his lost soul and sets out to help Arj. Arj has lost his job as assistant to a high-living venture capitalist Jeff (Seth Rogen) because he was trying to impress Elena (Keke Palmer) with whom he is infatuated, and things go further downhill.
This comedy highlights the absurdity of our time in a tale of the have and have-nots. Arj’s many jobs show how companies and services exploit workers while they are racking up profits, and Jeff is a great example of the wretched excesses of those who have too much money. Gabriel’s plan of having each of them walk in the other’s shoes for a while runs into a few snags and he has to wing it to get things fixed; he gets a little taste of human life along the way. The film is a light look at a serious topic and may not have the impact of a more hard-hitting approach, but it is an enjoyable watch, and it doesn’t hurt to have a few laughs.