Good Fortune, Keanu’s Angelic faceplant (fantasy movie trailer).
What do you get when you cross Trading Places, It’s a Wonderful Life, and the spiritual aura of Keanu Reeves wrapped in a slightly scorched bathrobe? Apparently, Good Fortune—Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut and possibly the first fantasy comedy to ask, “What if your guardian angel was rubbish at his job?”
Keanu, bless his cosmic cotton socks, plays Gabriel—a celestial functionary from Heaven’s bargain bin. He’s not one of your flaming sword types. More like the angelic equivalent of a public sector temp. His task? Show Arj (played by Ansari) that money can’t buy happiness by body-swapping him with his extravagantly wealthy employer, Jeff (Seth Rogen, who seems born to play a man with a disco in his basement). The plan, like most divine interventions not tested in committee, goes catastrophically wrong. Arj thrives in Jeff’s tax-dodging shoes. Gabriel loses his wings, falls to Earth, and is promptly forced into a sitcom flat-share with the real Jeff, now broke, confused, and presumably without access to his personal shaman.
Cue metaphysical hijinks, celestial bureaucracy, and Keanu Reeves—possibly the first angel in cinema history to injure himself on a cold plunge bath. Yes, Reeves actually shattered his kneecap during production after an overzealous attempt at hydrotherapy. Truly, the man suffers for his art. One imagines the Holy Host now carries liability insurance.
Ansari, having had his previous directorial effort (Being Mortal) unceremoniously binned due to on-set shenanigans not involving him, is clearly out to prove a point. And that point appears to be: “If I can’t win an Oscar, I’ll at least make you laugh so hard you snort popcorn into your own third eye.” Rogen, a longtime mate of Ansari, signed up so quickly he didn’t even wait for the script to finish printing. Presumably he just heard “body swap” and “Keanu” and yelled, “Sold!”
Sandra Oh joins in as an angelic auditor (because even Heaven needs HR), and Keke Palmer makes an appearance, presumably to keep the chaos vaguely grounded. Also of note: a character whose only known motivation is wanting to sit on Gabriel’s face. Honestly, it’s comforting to know that even angels can’t dodge awkward flirting.
The tone, judging by early reports and the closed-doors trailer shown at CinemaCon, is very much Scrooged with a side of ayahuasca. There’s a moral message buried somewhere beneath the punchlines—something about wealth not fixing your existential despair—but don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of pratfalls, eccentric cameos, and Keanu doing Keanu things (i.e., looking confused but beautiful while walking among mortals like a lost monk in Shoreditch).
Here at SFcrowsnest, we’re always up for a film that blends fantasy, comedy, and metaphysical chaos with a cast that looks like someone spun a Hollywood roulette wheel after a long night. Will Good Fortune usher in a new golden age of theatrical comedies, as Ansari hopes? Or will it merely serve as a divine reminder that angels, like humans, should probably avoid interfering with the helpdesk of the cosmos?
Find out October 17th, 2025, when Good Fortune descends upon cinemas, wings akimbo and disco balls spinning.
