Good Fortune Blu Ray Review (Lionsgate)

Good Fortune is a 2025 comedy written, produced, and directed by Aziz Ansari (Master of None, Being Mortal, and Aziz Ansari: Nightclub Comedian). It was produced by Anthony Katagas (12 Years a Slave, Ad Astra, The Next Three Days, Marty Supreme, Uncut Gems, We Own the Night, and Killing Them Softly). The budget was $30,000,000 and it grossed $26,114,174 worldwide at the box office. When an angel named Gabriel (played by: Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted franchise, John Wick franchise, The Matrix franchise, Speed, Point Break, and Street Kings) observes a struggling gig worker Arj (played by: Aziz Ansari from Parks and Recreation, This Is the End, Funny People, 30 Minutes or Less, Scrubs, and I Love You, Man) that’s barely making ends meet in Los Angeles. He breaks the rules and he intervenes to show him that money can’t solve all his problems. Gabriel swaps Arj’s life with a wealthy venture capitalist Jeff (played by: Seth Rogen from This Is the End, Pineapple Express, Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Night Before, and Knocked Up). The plan backfires when Arj is convinced his brand new wealth has actually solved all his problems. When Arj refuses to switch back, Jeff is left without his fortune and Gabriel ends up losing his wings over it. All three of them are forced to confront what it truly means to be human!!!! Good Fortune is kinda like a modern day version of Trading Places and I am down with it. Comedian Aziz Ansari makes his full length directorial debut here. He wears all kinds of hats on this project which includes producing, writing, and starring in this high concept comedy. The script is way better than expected. It shows all of the main characters from the start to when they all change to someone else. It’s fully developed and it shows the what if that most people think about all the time. Would money and power change you as a human being? Good Fortune explores that theory about it’s a funny example of what could happen. It’s a little slower towards the beginning but it adds to the overall story. I’ve always thought Aziz Ansari was underrated and he’s a consistent scene stealer when in a supporting role. This is so much more pressure and responsibility being the lead and the creative mind behind it all. He manages to pull it off as Arj. He gives a fantastic performance in almost a dual character because they are so much different from each other. He forgets about the real him when he gets that power and wealthy life. It proves to him that it doesn’t solve all of his issues. He falls for a girl and she liked the original version of him better while he was still struggling. Keanu Reeves steals the show as Gabriel. Critics are always harsh on him when it comes to his acting but he’s shown time after time that he has the talent. It really just depends on the project and role. He’s more than an action star, he is underappreciated when it comes to doing comedy like this. He’s a lower ranked angel that’s tired of his simple duties. He knows he can do more so he takes a chance on the unlucky Arj. Greed takes over and he’s punished for overstepping his special gifts. He is demoted to being a normal human. He has to learn and experience all kinds of things now that he’s mortal. He won’t be allowed back until everything is fixed. Seth Rogen is great as the douchy Jeff that takes his amazing life for granted. He doesn’t treat people like they are on his level and he doesn’t take responsibility for most things. He has it made and he doesn’t realize it until it’s all taken away. He is forced to work a lower paying job ironically owned by his own company. He finds out that he’s been greedy when the tables are turned on him. These 3 have amazing chemistry together. They make the best out of all their awkward situations. It helps the darker humor when it arrives. The rest of the supporting cast includes Keke Palmer (Scream: The TV Series), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Blanca Araceli (Monster), Penny Johnson Jerald (24), Joe Mande (Modern Family), Alexander Jo (Beef), Shoukath Ansari (Master of None), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Civil War), Matt Rogers (No Good Deed), and Roman Reigns (WWE). Good Fortune delivers laughter, drama, and romance. It has a great concept and execution to it’s sharp screenplay. It goi from being poor to becoming rich and what it can do to people. It has a good message that it can’t buy everything in life no matter how it good it feels at times. For a comedy, it doesn’t hesitate to be a little bit of downer but that’s realistic to the scenario. One of my favorite scenes is when Gabriel tries food for the very first time and he falls in love with chicken nuggies. It’s hilarious to see an angel experience normal stuff after being blessed with those abilities. Unfortunately, Good Fortune was misunderstood and I think that’s one of the main reasons that it didn’t break even or make any kind of profit. Hopefully, it gains a bigger audience on home video at some point and it becomes a future cult hit because it’s honestly one of the better comedies from 2025. It has a little bit of everything in it. It’s not afraid to show the bad side of reality. It’s so much fun and it’s highly entertaining. The replay value is strong, it’s worth checking out. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Lionsgate! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer looks great on home video. Since it kinda flopped in theaters, that probably explains why the 4K is only an Amazon exclusive at the moment. Good Fortune is blessed by high quality cinematography from DP Adam Newport-Berra (Blink Twice, The Studio, Euphoria, and The Bear) that makes every scene, production design, and locations look amazing for it’s visuals. It has a few audio options which includes English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks on the disc. The audio shines the most for it’s diverse score and soundtrack. “Send Me an Angel” from Real Life will be stuck inside my head for a few weeks now. All of the dialogue is crisp, the humor is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang. Aziz says he didn’t want to be self indulgent so he had the producer join him here. They chat about some of their all time favorite commentaries. They bring up some old school ones which really impressed me. They even mention Ben Affleck’s hilarious track for Armageddon. They talk about the cast, the script, the crew, locations, characters, food, music, racist dogs, and the visuals. They do so many things and subjects on here to cater to different crowds. It goes from scene by scene to personal inside stories from making this. Aziz jokes that he was about go to a film festival so he wasn’t expecting to watch before that. Aziz is more knowledgeable when it comes to cinema than I thought he would be. He wanted the cinematography to resemble Paris, Texas. They used real people that actually did some of the jobs that were on the screen so it worked. They go over doing several different versions of scenes to see what worked better. Aziz did Doordash to research his character’s gig here. They bring up the Hitch reference and possibly using the exact track with the dance but it costed a ridiculous amount to be licensed. They have a blast revisiting Good Fortune and they are very entertaining here. It’s a good mix of fun and great information from the comedy production. It has the almost 15 minute “Life Swap – Making Good Fortune”. It has interviews with Aziz Ansari, Alan Yang, Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and Keke Palmer. Aziz says that he knew this was the perfect project for him when he was writing it. It’s inspired by actual people that are stuck living in their car. They chat about the main characters and the cast, they break down what makes them different from each other. Aziz originally wrote the angel role for Seth. Wings of Desire was an influence for this. They go over how it became bigger when Reeves signed on to do something against type. It has various behind the scenes footage and clips from Good Fortune. It has the little over 12 minute “The Los Angeles of Good Fortune”. It has interviews with a variety of the cast and crew from the production. They chat about how important Los Angeles is to this feature. LA is basically it’s own character in Good Fortune. The story came from people from there and different living situations. Aziz wants to show the actual Los Angeles that he knows, not just only a glamorized version of it. They talk about some of the main locations from it. It has the little over 6 minute “The Clothes Make the Man…And the Angel”. They chat about the costumes and the overall look of the lead characters. They talk about the major influence that Wings of Desire. Peter Falk played that role so Aziz dressed Keanu Reeves up in similar clothes as Columbo which was the most known character from the original actor. It’s a very detailed look at why certain things were out together for Good Fortune. It has the “Theatrical Trailer” for Good Fortune. It comes with a slipcover and a digital copy. Like I said before, the 4K version is exclusive to Amazon. This standard version is available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!