Aziz Ansari’s Theological Gig Economy Comedy Can’t Stick the Landing

In 1990, Jim Belushi starred in a movie called Mr. Destiny. It told the story of a blue-collar schlub who longed to have a better life — specifically, the life of his wealthy boss.

Thanks to the intervention of a magical guardian angel-esque bartender played by Michael Caine, Belushi is given a taste of that reality. But he eventually learns that the glamorous life is not all that it’s cracked up to be, and ultimately begs to go back to his middle-class existence and return to the wife he just gleefully cheated on in another universe.

Then there’s It’s a Wonderful Life, which similarly tells a story about an everyman who becomes chill with his economic lot in life thanks to an alternate dimension conjured by Clarence the angel. At least in the Saturday Night Live version, George Bailey got to beat the shit out of Mr. Potter. Both these movies deliver the same message: The working class should put up with the injustices of capitalism, because their lives are meaningful regardless.

Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut, Good Fortune, which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, has a novel premise: What if the old angelic vision trick doesn’t work, and a lost soul decides to stay in their alternate reality for good?

Ansari also stars in the movie playing Arj, a down-on-his-luck documentary film editor who spends his days working for a delivery app and sleeping in his car. He eventually becomes an assistant to Jeff (Seth Rogen), an uber rich tech bro who, surprise surprise, came from wealth. When a novice angel named Gabriel, played by Keanu Reeves, takes notice of Arj’s misfortune, he oversteps his jurisdiction and swaps Arj’s life with Jeff’s. 

But instead of learning a lesson about the value of his original life, Arj discovers that most of his problems are immediately solved by money and privilege. 

Good Fortune desperately wants to say something about modern life, and the evils of income inequality — in addition to Arj’s misfortunes, one subplot involves Keke Palmer’s character’s attempts to unionize workers at a Home Depot-like box store. And there are repeated references to Amazon drivers being forced to piss in water bottles. 

But the trappings of a mainstream studio comedy obfuscate the central theme. For example, since the movie is a two-hander, we need Jeff to be likable and funny, and carry the movie for long stretches, hence the casting of Rogen. But the problem with America’s wealthy elite is not that they’re lovable goofballs who are just a little naive about the plight of the working class. 

The movie has a lot of laughs, and we defy anyone to not enjoy Reeves’ performance, but Ansari doesn’t even come close to sticking the landing. While no one was expecting a movie starring John Wick and the dude from Sausage Party to deliver a solution to America’s wealth gap, Good Fortune’s resolution is a disappointing return to the status quo, and arguably was just as much of a cop-out as the ending of Mr. Destiny.

The most obvious antecedent to Good Fortune is Trading Places, which was basically the exact same story minus the angel stuff. But that movie cleverly gave us two billionaire villains to root against. That’s an easy out too, but it was more narratively (and morally) satisfying than what Ansari’s movie ends up giving us.