GOOD FORTUNE (2025)

Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), is an angel.
A well-meaning but slightly inept angel whose job description is saving the lives of those who text and drive. After watching a co-worker tell their stories of saving the lives of lost souls by showing them how viable their futures become at a work meeting, Gabriel is inspired and wants a promotion to more meaningfully contribute in the life-saving process than making distracted drivers look up from their smartphone screens before they die. This request is denied by Martha (Sandra Oh), who is in angel class management, keeping Gabriel from spreading his wings further (literally).

Arj (Aziz Ansari), is definitely hanging on by a shoestring. He’s an out of work documentary film editor barely keeping his head above water by juggling a series of dismal app-provided gigs while living out of his car and bathing in a gym.

Before intervening to prevent the end of Arj’s life while texting and driving, Gabriel observes the reply text that he’s typing after receiving a job application rejection on his phone saying that he’s thinking of killing himself. Could Arj be the lost soul that Gabriel saves in order to get his devine promotion?

Jeff (Seth Rogen), is a wealthy and eccentric tech bro, partly (or maybe largely) responsible for the ultra successful Foodzer app (an app much like UberEats).

After a chance run in with Jeff during an app gig pick-up gone wrong, Arj later accepts a delivery run that lands him at Jeff’s house. During the delivery, circumstances align where Jeff decides to hire Arj as his new personal assistant, a job that has Arj finally feeling like things are going his way until on a date with Elena (Keke Palmer) he uses Jeff’s company credit card to pay for the high priced bill.

The next day, Arj is not only fired, but finds out the app he used to take gigs from no longer has room for him to work, has to resort to donating plasma for some money, is evicted from the lot he’s been parking his car in to sleep, and his car is towed from a Denny’s after he passes out inside from exhaustion.

This is where Gabriel intervenes above his pay grade and appears to Arj, their conversation resulting in the belief that money would solve most of Arj’s problems – after all, they all seem to stem from a lack of it. So Gabriel, switches the lives of Arj and Jeff for two weeks to try to show Arj that money isn’t the answer to everything.

Martha, informed by Gabriel of how proud he is to be saving a lost soul, takes away Gabriel’s wings as punishment and tells him he has to convince Arj to switch back to redeem himself – because seemingly, against popular opinion, money does solve most of Arj’s problems and he doesn’t want to – even when Gabriel awakens Jeff back to his real self.

What follows is a hilarious take on what you really get from doing what you’re supposed to, instant wealth, an angel’s first experiences being human, the value of principals, and life lessons in the day to day desperation our real world society faces today.

With a large and powerful Canadian-driven cast, Good Fortune (2025) tackles today’s glaring social inequities with impeccable comedic timing and is a laughter fuelled must watch directorial debut for Aziz Ansari.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Note:
Good Fortune (2025) celebrated its world premiere during TIFF 2025 (September 4th – 14th, 2025). Lionsgate releases the film theatrically October 17th, 2025.