Good Fortune is a 2025 American comedy film written and directed by Aziz Ansari, who made his first movie as a director. The film stars Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh, and Keanu Reeves. It is produced by Garam Films, Oh Brudder Productions, Keep Your Head, and Yang Pictures. The story follows an angel named Gabriel (played by Keanu Reeves), who tries to teach Arj (played by Aziz Ansari), a man with financial problems, that money cannot solve all issues. Gabriel swaps Arj’s life with his wealthy employer, Jeff (played by Seth Rogen). This action causes Gabriel to lose his wings, and the work he did as an angel begins to fall apart.

After Aziz Ansari’s first movie as a director, Being Mortal, was paused by Searchlight Pictures in 2022, he decided to make Good Fortune instead. He wanted to create a comedy for theaters, inspired by the success of Barbie (2023). Seth Rogen, a longtime friend of Ansari and a source of inspiration for the film, joined the project after Being Mortal was paused.

The film was planned to start filming in May 2023. However, production was paused in the middle of the month due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Filming began in late January 2024 in Los Angeles, after Keke Palmer joined the cast. Most filming ended before April 2024, but some scenes were filmed later after Keanu Reeves recovered from an injury that happened two weeks into filming.

Good Fortune had its first showing at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025. It was released in the United States on October 17, 2025, by Lionsgate. Critics generally gave the film positive reviews, and it earned $26 million at the box office, which is slightly less than its $30 million budget.

Plot

Gabriel is a guardian angel with a lower rank. His job is to help people avoid accidents caused by texting while driving. However, he wants to help lost souls, a task assigned to another angel named Azrael. One day, Gabriel saves Arj, a young man who works part-time at a hardware store, does odd jobs, and lives in his car. Curious about Arj, Gabriel watches him for several days.

Arj starts dating Elena, a coworker who is trying to organize a union at the store. While working on tasks for hire, Arj meets Jeff, a wealthy tech investor, who hires him as an assistant. Jeff suggests a restaurant he claims is affordable, but it is very expensive. Arj uses Jeff’s company credit card to pay for the meal, and Jeff fires him as a result.

Arj finds out that the app he used to earn money has banned him. He begins donating plasma to make money but falls asleep afterward at a Denny’s. He discovers his car has been towed due to unpaid parking tickets. Gabriel senses Arj is at his lowest point and appears to him, showing him a vision of his future to inspire hope. Arj sees his future as bleak. Gabriel tells him that wealth and success, like Jeff’s, will not solve his problems. He switches Arj and Jeff’s lives to prove his point. Arj now has Jeff’s wealth and assets, while Jeff becomes his assistant. Gabriel is disappointed when Arj is happy and believes being rich has solved his problems.

Gabriel’s actions are discovered by Martha, his supervisor. She tells Gabriel that Arj must agree to switch back to his original life. As punishment, she takes away Gabriel’s wings, which limits his angel powers. At a party, Gabriel accidentally gives Jeff back his memories. The three discuss the situation, and Arj agrees to switch back after a few days but refuses to help Jeff financially so Jeff can understand Arj’s life. Gabriel accompanies Jeff, and they move into a motel to find ways to earn money.

Arj begins a relationship with Elena but ends it when he suggests her union work is unimportant. While driving, he texts Elena to reconcile and crashes his car, falling into a coma. Jeff and Gabriel struggle to earn money and end up sleeping in their car. Martha fires Gabriel for failing to inspire hope in Arj and turns him human. Gabriel gets a job as a dishwasher and becomes frustrated with the difficulty of making a living.

Arj wakes from his coma and pretends to have memory loss to avoid switching back with Jeff. After being fired from a delivery job because the company uses robots, Jeff plans to steal Arj’s expensive watches. He and Gabriel arrive as Arj throws himself a birthday party.

At the party, Arj sees Elena working as a caterer. Later, Elena tells him that wealth is not what she wants; she prefers to fight for her beliefs even if it does not make her rich. Arj later finds Jeff trying to steal the watches and, frightened, shoots him in the arm, revealing his memory loss was fake. At the hospital, Arj agrees to switch back, but Gabriel explains that the switch will only work if Arj truly wants to return to his life out of hope, not guilt. Martha visits Gabriel and tells him that people can inspire hope in each other without needing angels.

Arj, Jeff, and Gabriel go dancing with Elena and her friends. Arj tells Gabriel he is afraid of returning to his old life because he fears struggling again. Gabriel shares that he was also scared after becoming human but found joy in life and the people he met. Reassured, Arj agrees to switch lives back with Jeff.

Arj is returned to the time right after his car was towed, and Jeff is returned to his normal life. Jeff pays Arj’s impound fees and, during a meeting with one of the food delivery apps he invested in, demands better treatment for workers, including higher pay. Arj begins making a documentary about gig workers and continues his relationship with Elena, while Gabriel watches over them.

Cast

• Seth Rogen plays Jeff, a rich man who lives a very comfortable and extravagant life. He owns many cars, a large house with a pool and a disco club in the basement, and throws exciting parties. After angel Gabriel helps Arj, who works for Jeff, their lives are switched.
• Aziz Ansari plays Arj, a man who struggles to make ends meet. He does many different jobs for Jeff, such as fixing the pool and finding a shaman for an ayahuasca journey. When Arj reaches a low point in his life, he meets Gabriel, who tries to teach him that money cannot solve all problems.
• Keke Palmer plays Elena, who works at a hardware store with Arj. She works to improve working conditions and to help her coworkers form a union.
• Sandra Oh plays Martha, an angel who takes over Gabriel’s wings.
• Keanu Reeves plays Gabriel, an angel who tries to get his wings back after a plan to show a struggling man that wealth cannot solve problems goes wrong. This causes the man to take over his rich employer’s life. Normally, Gabriel helps people avoid car accidents caused by texting while driving, but he tries to prove that a wealthy life is not as perfect as it seems.
• Matt Rogers plays Peter, Jeff’s coworker.
• Felipe Garcia Martinez plays Felipe, Gabriel’s coworker at a restaurant.
• Stephen McKinley Henderson plays Azrael, an angel who helps lost souls.
• Penny Johnson Jerald plays Elena’s mother.
• Sherry Cola plays Linda, a partygoer who finds Gabriel attractive.

Production

After Aziz Ansari's first movie project, Being Mortal, was put on hold by Searchlight Pictures in 2022 due to concerns about the behavior of actor Bill Murray, Ansari moved forward with his next planned project, Good Fortune. Ansari had been working on serious films and wanted to make a comedy that would be shown in theaters. He believed a comedy could be successful, using the example of the movie Barbie (2023). He hoped that making an R-rated comedy would prove the genre could work and might lead to similar movies being made.

After discussions with Dan Freedman, Phil Strina, John Biondo, and Matt Leonetti, Lionsgate Films agreed to take on the project. Aniz Adam Ansari, Jonathan McCoy, Christopher Woodrow, and Connor DiGregorio are executive producers. Brady Fujikawa and Jon Humphrey managed the production for Lionsgate. In April 2023, it was announced that Anthony Katagas, Alan Yang, and Ansari would produce the film. Ansari also wrote, directed, and starred in the movie. Garam Films, Oh Brudder Productions, Keep Your Head, and Yang Pictures are the production companies, with Lionsgate working with Media Capital Technologies to present the film.

Ansari wanted to write about everyday challenges that people face but rarely discuss. He saw the city of Los Angeles as an important character in Good Fortune, highlighting issues like the gig economy, food delivery robots, gentrification, the housing crisis, and homelessness. To learn more about these topics, Ansari interviewed gig workers, shadowed food delivery drivers, and worked in hardware stores. He was inspired by the movies It's a Wonderful Life and A Matter of Life and Death (both from 1946).

In April 2023, Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen were announced as stars of the film, with filming planned to begin in May. Ansari and Rogen had been friends for a long time and wanted to work together on a movie. After Being Mortal was put on hold, Ansari reached out to Rogen with a draft of Good Fortune. Rogen joined the project shortly after. Rogen helped shape some parts of the script, such as scenes involving a sauna and a cold plunge. Initially, Ansari was unsure if Reeves could take on the role of Gabriel because he thought Reeves seemed very different from the character. However, after meeting Reeves, Ansari was convinced. Ansari connected Reeves to two movies that influenced him: Speed (1994) and The Matrix (1999). To make Reeves feel more comfortable, Ansari invited him to his home for Indian food and conversation, then went out to dinner with him. In April 2024, Sandra Oh joined the cast.

Principal photography was expected to start on May 16, 2023, in Los Angeles, but was delayed because of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. In November 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that production aimed to restart in early 2024. On January 25, 2024, Keke Palmer shared on Instagram that filming with Ansari, Rogen, and Reeves had begun. Other sources confirmed her role. In February, scenes with Reeves on a rooftop rig and a stunt double were filmed in Los Angeles. Griffith Park Observatory also appears in the movie. Adam Newport-Berra was the cinematographer.

Two weeks into filming, photos of Reeves on set with crutches and an ice pack on his knee appeared online. At the time, it was unclear if the items were for his role or due to an injury. The images led to questions about Reeves' health. Later, Reeves was seen on set without assistance. At the 2024 CinemaCon, Ansari explained that the hashtag #GetWellSoonKeanu became popular after the photos. He clarified that Reeves had broken his knee during filming, tripping on a rug in his trailer. Reeves continued most of the filming despite the injury. Reeves later told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he fell while leaving a cold plunge, causing a severe knee injury that bled heavily.

Most filming was completed before Reeves began work on his next project, Outcome (2026), which started principal photography on March 20. Ansari noted that some scenes, including a salsa dance sequence with Reeves, were left to film later. Reeves wanted to shoot the scenes immediately, but production delayed filming until his knee healed. Daniel Haworth was the editor.

Carter Burwell was hired to compose the film's score by August 2024.

Marketing

Aziz Ansari attended the 2024 CinemaCon event to promote a film produced by Lionsgate Films. He shared details about the film’s creative process and plot, and showed a private preview of the movie’s trailer to the audience. /Film’s Ryan Scott compared the film’s body-swapping storyline to the movies Trading Places (1983) and Scrooged (1988). Writers Anthony D'Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione from Deadline Hollywood noted that the film appeared very funny and received many laughs. When the first trailer was released in late May 2025, Empire and Gizmodo compared the film’s premise to the idea of actor Keanu Reeves playing an angel, which matches his friendly public image. The A.V. Club mentioned that the film’s title, Good Fortune, seemed ironic because of the challenges faced by actor Mike Myers and the strikes that affected Aziz Ansari’s first film as a director.

Release

The movie Good Fortune was shown in movie theaters by Lionsgate Films in the United States on October 17, 2025. It had its first showing at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025.

The movie became available to watch online on November 7, 2025, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on December 7, 2025.

Reception

In the United States and Canada, Good Fortune was released to 2,990 theaters during its opening weekend. It started at number 3 on the box office chart and remained in the Top 10 for three weeks in a row. By December 2025, the movie had earned $16.5 million in the U.S. and Canada and $9.5 million in other countries, totaling over $26 million worldwide. This is $30 million less than the budget.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of 136 critics gave positive reviews. The site's summary says, "Aziz Ansari's first movie as a director is promising, and Keanu Reeves' humor helps make the socially aware jokes more enjoyable." Metacritic, which calculates an average score, gave the film 62 out of 100 based on 37 critics, meaning the reviews were mostly positive. CinemaScore asked moviegoers to rate the film, and they gave it an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Pete Hammond from Deadline Hollywood wrote that the film shows both the best and worst parts of Los Angeles' economy and makes people laugh while talking about the gig economy. Keanu Reeves was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Musical at the 9th Astra Film Awards. The movie was also nominated for Best Marketing Campaign at the 4th Astra Creative Arts Awards.