🔗 Share this article

Good Fortune, this fantasy film from actor the director, has been struggling at the box office. Many factors could account for the film's performance: The generic name doesn't express its film's unique appeal. Its screenplay is often moralizing and heavy-handed with its messages. Its acting are flat and presentational, like the actors were reading lines directly from a script. And, it arrives during an era of economic anxiety and disparity, that may make audiences not very open to a narrative which implies wealthy individuals enjoy all the benefits while the poor have spirit.

However, here's what the movie stands out: The film is original, bold, creative, often funny, and undoubtedly relevant. And, it offers an unexpectedly enjoyable Keanu Reeves hangout experience.

Keanu Reeves in the role of Guardian: His Typical Portrayal

Personally, I've not regarded Reeves a good performer. The actor's flat speaking style and consistent expression of slight perturbation have always felt limited, despite the wide variety of characters he has played during the past four decades of his career. Smart filmmakers have often placed Reeves in parts in which his stoic nature works perfectly, including My Own Private Idaho to the sci-fi classic to John Wick. But nearly all of these characters called for Reeves to seem tough, closed-off, and removed.

Throughout Good Fortune, the actor portrays Gabriel, a minor guardian angel assigned with looking after people that text when behind the wheel. The character's whole duty involves remaining in his cars and gently touching their arms as they are close to crash, warning them in order that they stop before impact. But, while positioned high above his domain, gazing upon the mortal world like an alternative version of a celestial figure in Wim Wenders' renowned movie Wings of Desire, Gabriel becomes ambitious. Gabriel desires to become an exceptional protector and a savior of lost individuals.

A Surprising Shift: Reeves Playing a Mortal

So, he reveals his presence to down-and-out odd-jobber a character (portrayed by the director), who's residing out of a vehicle and resenting his situation. The angel proceeds to swaps Arj with the existence of extremely rich tech mogul a character (acted by Seth Rogen). This idea behind the exercise was for Arj would understand Jeff's existence has major drawbacks, and gratefully go back to his own circumstances, similar to the figure from the classic film.

Problem was, the character immediately discovers that Jeff's problems (boring appointments, a pricey heating bill) are minor and readily resolved with wealth. He also realizes how being affluent opens up limitless opportunities for pleasurable enjoyment. He shows no interest in returning to his previous situation, and the angel can't compel him to go back. Subsequently, additional bad news arrives: Because of overstepping his mandate and messing with the balance of the world, the character loses his position as an celestial job, and turned into a mortal.

The Discovery: Keanu Reeves Grins

Personally, I remained never persuaded by Reeves playing an angel with grand aspirations and a burning desire to make a difference. He turns in the same vaguely stiff performance he's been offering for no less than the last three decades. Viewing Reeves as an angel who's just turned mortal for the first time, however, proved to be a blast, for a reason that really surprised viewers at first: This is an element new for Reeves. Or to be precise, an aspect from the past.

Early during the character's baffling career being a human, clinging to Jeff (whom the angel exchanged into Arj's hand-to-mouth life and jobless status), the character begins hesitantly experimenting with human activities like eating and swallowing meals. And Reeves smiles. Authentically, cautiously, happily beams. (This is far more believable than the smile shown in the promotional image, which appears digitally altered.)

The Reason This Grin Matters

It really took me aback to recognize just how unexpected and welcome the smile was. When did we last we observed the actor grin in a film in which he was not expressing ill will, irony, or bitterness? The actor probably tries it somewhere in the recent ill-conceived Bill & Ted Face the Music, however I'm not revisiting the mess to confirm. The actor has been typecast with serious, murderous, broody, or just serious characters for such a duration that merely watching him smile felt like observing a completely different actor.

While the story progresses, Gabriel finds himself needing to take a dishwashing job, which fails to provide enough to live on, and Gabriel begins smoking heavily due to disappointment. Simply the sight of the actor in a cheap paper food-service hat, his recent trademark long hair pulled back in an unglamorous ponytail, leaning against a building and smoking a cigarette, proves worth watching. The kitchen worker attire completely changes his face and posture: Suddenly, the slim, suited physical powerhouse of the John Wick movies is awkward, unglamorous, and much more relatable.

A Joy of Viewing Reeves Loosen Up

Good Fortune isn't consistently enjoyable to view, especially when the director (that additionally authored the screenplay) has to create believable explanations for {Ar