Best known for his work on TV, Aziz Ansari’s film career largely put him in supporting roles. For 2025’s Good Fortune, Ansari plays the lead, and the movie also marks his debut as the writer and director of a big-screen release.

The angel Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) gets a low-ranking job that simply requires him to save people who drive while distracted but he dreams of something more. When he rescues struggling documentarian and “gig worker” Arj (Ansari), he senses a soul in need of greater intervention and leaps at the chance to assist.

Arj believes that wealth would solve all his problems so Gabriel swaps Arj’s life with that of the seemingly carefree billionaire “tech bro” Jeff (Seth Rogen) to show that money doesn’t cure all ills. This doesn’t go as Gabriel plans and he needs to figure out how to fix the mess he makes.

If that synopsis makes Fortune sound like a mish-mash of It’s a Wonderful Life, Wings of Desire and the “body swap” genre, there’s a good reason for that. Fortune completely exists as a mix of those prior efforts.

While it wears its influences on its sleeve, Fortune still entertains – well, for a while, at least. Although the movie comes with some strong highs, it fades as it goes.

This happens primarily because Fortune tends to exist more as a political statement than as an actual coherent feature. The long the film runs, the more it buries the viewer beneath its sociological perspective.

Don’t get me wrong: I agree with Ansari’s POV. He spotlights all the ways that the current economic structure makes it difficult for so many to make ends meet and it also accentuates the carelessness and cluelessness with which the ultra-wealthy cruise through life.

Although I appreciate these observations, Ansari simply forgets that this message goes down better when accompanied by entertainment. He manages to balance matters well during the first act but the message gets more and more dominant as the tale progresses.

This increasingly heavy-handed narrative bogs down the end result, though I can’t claim the final product becomes a total slog as it progresses. Even as Ansari hammers home his point, he still manages some comedy along the way.

Still, Ansari lacks the nimbleness required to make the tale go down smoothly. He beats us over the head with the themes so intensely that it can become tough to engage in the characters.

Of our three leads, only Rogen really handles his role with aplomb. He takes Jeff from oblivious child of privilege to downtrodden poor dude and back with real skill and deftness, and he also mixes the comedy and the drama in a satisfying manner.

Unfortunately, Ansari proves less effective as Arj. While he prompts laughs for the funny bits, he spits out all his lines – comedic, dramatic, romantic - in the same too-loud way.

This makes Arj a less than realistic character. Ansari’s tendency to exclaim every sentence like it comes with an exclamation point at the end renders Arj one-note.

On the other hand, Reeves offers a typically wooden performance as Gabriel. I know Reeves has morphed into “national treasure” – or international treasure since he originates from Canada – but even 40 years into his career, the man still can’t act.

As I’ve opined in the past, Reeves does great in action roles that don’t require much emotional range. Gabriel needs to go from innocence to understanding of humanity and Reeves simply fails to make that journey in a convincing manner.

Even with its flaws, Good Fortune manages enough laughs to keep us with it. I just wish the Ansari had made his social points in a less ham-fisted manner.

Good Fortune appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a strong transfer.

Sharpness looked very good. Only mild softness materialized, which meant a tight, well-defined image most of the time.

I witnessed no shimmering or jaggies, and edge haloes remained absent. As expected, the film lacked any print flaws.

In terms of palette, Mad went with a fairly standard mix of amber/orange and blue/teal. Within these stylistic decisions, the hues seemed fine.

Blacks were deep and tight, and shadows looked smooth and clear. This turned into an appealing image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack opted for a fairly standard “comedy mix” much of the time, though some elements opened up the action at times. Street moments and party elements brought out some dimensionality, and the mix used music as an active partner.

Nonetheless, nothing here stood out as impressive. The soundfield went with a scope that seemed typical of the genre and didn’t go beyond those expectations.

Audio quality appeared good. Speech seemed distinctive and concise, without roughness or brittleness.

Music was warm and full, as the movie used the songs and score in a bold manner. Effects showed good delineation and accuracy. This ended up as a satisfactory mix for a comedy.

As we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director/actor Aziz Ansari and producer Alan Yang. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, photography, editing, influences, and related topics.

While Ansari and Yang provide an enthusiastic commentary that comes with decent insights, it tends to remain too superficial. They devote an awful lot of the running time to praise so this becomes a spotty track.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find three featurettes. Life Swap spans 14 minutes, 37 seconds and brings notes from Ansari, Yang, executive producer Aniz Adam Ansari, and actors Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Keanu Reeves.

During this reel, we learn about research for the story and characters as well as story/characters, cast and performances. We get a mix of fluff and moderate insights here.

The Los Angeles of Good Fortune goes for 12 minutes, 24 seconds. It involves Aziz Ansari, Aniz Adam Ansari, Rogen, Yang, location manager Jay Traynor. production designer Kay Lee, set decorator Julia Altschul, executive producer Jonathan McCoy and chef/restaurant owner Brian Dunsmoor.

As implied by the title, the featurette examines the movie’s locations and sets. We get decent notes along with some happy talk.

Finally, The Clothes Make the Man… And the Angel runs six minutes, 15 seconds. This one provides remarks from Aziz Ansari, Yang, Aniz Adam Ansari, costume designer April Napier and costume supervisor Carolyn Dessert.

Unsurprisingly, this one gets into the film’s wardrobe. Like its predecessors, it becomes a decent blend of useful notes and fluff.

With its heart in the right place, I respect the message of Good Fortune. However, though the end product comes with moderate entertainment value, it hammers home its themes in such a heavy-handed manner that it can drag. The Blu-ray comes with good picture and audio along with a mix of bonus features. Expect an up and down mix of comedy and social commentary.