In the opening scene of this comedy, an angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is standing atop a dome overlooking the city of Los Angeles. (Yes, just like the beginning of the German film Wings of Desire.) At a gathering of other angels, he hears about how one of them has guided a suicidal human to realize how much he has to live for and to have hope. (Yes, like in the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life). Good Fortune takes the themes from those angel movies and shows how they might play out in contemporary America.
Gabriel is a low-level angel assigned to watch over people who are texting and driving; a nudge on the shoulder keeps his assignments from crashing. But what he really wants to do is help a “lost soul” and show him that his life is precious. He chooses Arj (Aziz Ansari), who after losing his job and his apartment is living in his car. Daily he works a variety of gigs – standing in line for someone, delivering pizzas – but he’s not making it.
Hired to clean a garage, Arj meets Jeff (Seth Rogen), a very wealthy capitalist. Gabriel comes up with the idea of having these two switch places for a week so that Arj will learn that a life of success and wealth is ultimately unsatisfying. Only problem is, Arj loves living in Jeff’s house, buying clothes, eating expensive meals, and throwing parties. Jeff is dismayed to learn that their switching back can only happen if Arj wants to do it.
Gabriel’s boss Martha (Sandra Oh) is so disappointed with the mess he’s created that she takes away his wings and tells him he will have to live as a human. There are some magic moments for him in this new identity – eating a hamburger, drinking a milk shake, dancing – but soon the former angel and the former capitalist are sleeping in a motel, washing dishes, making deliveries, and still don’t have enough money to live on. In a very funny scene, Gabriel reacts to the fact that there is so little actual money in his paycheck as a dishwasher because of all the taxes.
Good Fortune succeeds in Gabriel’s goal with two lost souls. Both Arj and Seth reassess their lives and find sources of hope. That’s fortunate indeed, an angelic mission we wish for many other gig workers and capitalists today.