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Good Fortune, this fantasy comedy from comedian the director, is facing challenges at the box office. Several reasons may explain the film's performance: Its generic title doesn't express its film's unique charm. Its script is often preachy and heavy-handed with its themes. The performances seem uninspired and staged, as if the actors are reading dialogue straight from a script. Moreover, it arrives during an era of financial anxiety and disparity, that could make audiences not very open to a story that suggests rich individuals enjoy all the advantages while those in need possess spirit.

However, this is where Good Fortune excels: It's original, daring, imaginative, often humorous, and certainly timely. Plus, it provides a great the actor character-driven experience.

Keanu Reeves in the role of Guardian: A Familiar Portrayal

Personally, I've never considered Reeves a strong performer. His flat speaking style and consistent look of mild perturbation has always seemed one-note, regardless of the wide variety of roles he's taken on over the past four decades years. Smart filmmakers have cast Reeves in roles where that stoic nature fits perfectly, from his early work to the sci-fi classic to John Wick. But nearly every one of these characters called for him to appear hardened, distant, or detached.

In the film, the actor portrays Gabriel, a low-level guardian angel tasked with looking after individuals who text while driving. The character's whole job involves sitting in their cars and lightly touching their arms when they're close to have an accident, warning the person in order that the driver stop in time. However, when standing high above the city, gazing on the mortal world similar to an alternative interpretation of the angel from the director's renowned film the angel story, the character becomes aspirational. Gabriel wants to be a great guardian and rescuer of wayward individuals.

A Unexpected Turn: Keanu Playing a Human

So, Gabriel reveals his presence to struggling odd-jobber Arj (played by Aziz Ansari), who's living in a vehicle and cursing his life. The angel then exchanges Arj with the life of stupidly rich tech mogul Jeff (acted by the comedian). The idea behind the experiment is that Arj to understand the wealthy man's life comes with significant drawbacks, and gratefully go back to his original life, much like the character in It's a Wonderful Life.

Problem was, Arj immediately realizes that Jeff's issues (tedious appointments, a pricey heating bill) are negligible and easily solved with money. Arj also realizes how becoming rich opens up limitless chances for self-indulgent fun. The character shows zero desire in returning to his previous life, and Gabriel is unable to force him to return. Subsequently, additional trouble comes: For overstepping his mandate and messing with the order of existence, Gabriel loses his position from his celestial role, and transformed into a mortal.

The Revelation: The Actor Grins

I was not persuaded by the actor as an celestial being who has grand dreams and an intense desire to effect change. He delivers the same vaguely stiff acting he has been providing for no less than the last 3 ten-year periods. Watching Reeves as an celestial being that has recently become mortal for the first time, on the other hand, proved to be highly entertaining, for a reason which truly astonished viewers at first: This is an element different for the actor. Or more accurately, an aspect old.

Early during his confusing career being a mortal, clinging to the wealthy character (who Gabriel had swapped into the handyman's precarious existence and jobless situation), Gabriel starts hesitantly experimenting with everyday activities such as eating and swallowing food. And Reeves smiles. Genuinely, cautiously, happily beams. (This is far much believable than his grin on the promotional image, that looks digitally altered.)

Why That Grin Matters

The moment truly surprised me to recognize how unexpected and refreshing that smile was. At what point did we last audiences saw the actor grin in a film where he wasn't expressing ill will, irony, or resentment? He likely tries it somewhere in the recent ill-conceived Bill & Ted Face the Music, however I'm not returning to the disappointment to confirm. The actor has been typecast with serious, violent, introspective, or just serious characters for such a duration that just watching Reeves grin felt like seeing an entirely different actor.

As the story goes on, Gabriel finds himself having to take a dishwashing job, which doesn't pay enough for survival, and Gabriel starts smoking heavily out of frustration. Just the sight of Reeves in a cheap paper restaurant hat, his late-career trademark locks tied in an unglamorous ponytail, slouching on a building and puffing on a smoke, proves worth the price of admission. The dishwasher getup totally changes his face and body: Unexpectedly, the slim, well-dressed action star of the John Wick films is awkward, ordinary, and much increasingly relatable.

A Pleasure of Viewing Reeves Relax

Good Fortune is not always fun to watch, especially when Ansari (who additionally wrote the script) has to create plausible reasons for {Ar