Acting Performances in Good Fortune
Sandra Oh is so underused, it’s a shame. She is domineering each time she’s on screen and with cause. Keke Palmer is an absolute winner throughout her appearances, commanding the dialogue with every word that falls from her lips. Keanu Reeves is honestly the best part about the film, and his years of dedication to his craft is very visible. The same cannot be said about Seth Rogen and Aziz Ansari, who try but fail to be memorable.
Final Verdict of Good Fortune
If I were to describe the entire experience of watching Good Fortune on screen, it would be a ‘meh’. It presents itself as this old television that everyone has in the back of their attic, which they once praised for showing them colorized versions of their favorite TV shows, but is now left as just another invention far behind its peers.
Only about a couple of sniggers escaped my lips throughout the 97-minute run time of the film, and that’s honestly saying a lot considering how the project banks on its wiring from an industry favorite. The plot is quite predictable and gives you the comfort of watching a series you’ve familiarized yourself with over the years, and can be put on during a cooking session to run at the back of your mind.
Good Fortune has its moments, but these instances are so fleeting that you’ll be left wondering if you were even supposed to laugh at them. The Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves starrer teeters between being a passion project from someone who has impressed the American crowd and largely even the South Asian American masses with his wit, and a school assignment that became too ambitious overnight.
It has heart, after all, a predictable Indian boy’s struggling journey in America may just be hitting home for too many people at this point in time. However, the potential is lost amid a penny-worth cast that tries too hard but on the wrong project. Aziz Ansari may have impressed audiences with his past works, but this one remains as the page sticking out of his shiny book, as a bothersome afterthought.
