Aziz Ansari’s feature directorial debut, Good Fortune, centers on a well-meaning but inept angel whose meddling upends the lives of a gig worker and a venture capitalist. Following its TIFF premiere and theatrical run, Good Fortune is available for fans to take home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital.

Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is a low-ranking guardian angel assigned to prevent minor disasters like texting-related car crashes, though he longs to save lost souls—a duty reserved for the higher-ranking Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson). After saving Arj (Aziz Ansari), a struggling aspiring documentarian living out of his car and scraping by through gig work and a hardware store job, Gabriel becomes fascinated by his life. Arj begins dating his coworker Elena (Keke Palmer), who is trying to unionize the store, and later meets Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy tech investor who hires him as an assistant.

Arj’s brief stability collapses when Jeff fires him after an expensive dinner leaves Arj using a company credit card. His delivery app bans him, his car is towed, and he hits rock bottom. Gabriel reveals himself and, hoping to prove that money cannot solve Arj’s problems, magically switches Arj’s life with Jeff’s. The lesson fails: Arj flourishes as a rich tech investor while Jeff struggles. Gabriel’s supervisor Martha (Sandra Oh) punishes him by taking his wings and insisting the switch can only be reversed if Arj willingly agrees to return to his old life.

As Arj delays the decision, he damages his relationship with Elena and later crashes his car while texting her, ending up in a coma. Gabriel is ultimately turned human for failing to inspire hope, forcing him to experience life without divine privilege. When Arj awakens and pretends to have lost his memory, tensions come to a head at a birthday party, revealing the truth. With Gabriel’s reassurance that fear and uncertainty are part of being human, Arj chooses to switch back. Jeff uses his restored Sauna Boss LLC wealth to advocate for better treatment of gig workers, while Arj begins a documentary and reconnects with Elena.

There’s something to be said about Good Fortune and how money isn’t supposed to solve our problems. But, as the film shows, having more money can actually solve a lot of them—at least to some extent. There’s this idea that money can’t buy happiness, but in all honesty, I don’t think that’s entirely true. Sure, some wealthy people live luxuriously, but I like to believe there are those who live modestly and donate generously rather than splurging on things they don’t need. G‑d only knows how much I’d love to get above the poverty line!

Good Fortune takes the angels-on-earth and life-swap wish-fulfillment tropes and flips them on their heads. Having not watched the trailer, I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond Gabriel meddling in Jeff and Arj’s lives. What I definitely didn’t expect was seeing Gabriel lose his wings and become human. Yet the film handles all of this cleverly, while also teaching Jeff a lesson about how the other half lives. His experiences on the ground even lead him to become a better investor in apps.

Good Fortune owes something to classic comedies like Sullivan’s Travels and My Man Godfrey, which tackled income disparity and class not through drama but through humor. Comedy is a perfect lens for these issues when done right. Even though Arj benefits most materially from switching lives, it’s Jeff who comes away with the bigger lesson. Perhaps that’s why the film resonated so widely, even earning a spot on President Barack Obama’s favorite-movies list.

The sad part about watching Good Fortune is how much it speaks to the reality of breaking into the film industry. Arj wants to work as a film editor but isn’t having much luck, and he has no choice but to take on random task jobs to survive. That really highlights how hard it is to find steady work. Throw in studio consolidation and the looming impact of AI, and who knows how much harder it’ll get in the near future. It’s all the more reason why legacy studios shouldn’t swallow up other legacy studios—but that’s another story.

At the end of the day, Good Fortune is clever, funny, and surprisingly thoughtful about wealth, privilege, and human connection. It indulges in wish-fulfillment fantasy, but it’s grounded enough to make you care about the characters and the lessons they learn.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Aziz Ansari
CAST: Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, with Sandra Oh and Keanu Reeves

Lionsgate released Good Fortune in theaters on October 17, 2025. Grade: 3.5/5

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