Sometimes, a movie’s greatest asset is also a fatal drawback. Take the low-key, affable ambiance of writer/director Aziz Ansari’s new comedy Good Fortune. In this production, Ansari plays Arj, a man living out of his car and struggling to make ends meet in Los Angeles. He’s become immensely jaded and cynical after exorbitant hardship. Even when hardware store co-worker Elena (Keke Palmer) suggests they unionize to improve working conditions, Arj blows the notion off. In his mind, nothing will change. Nothing will get better.

Soon, Arj’s existence intersects with two life-changing figures. The first is the disgustingly wealthy tech bro Jeff (Seth Rogen). The other is Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), a lowly angel craving more responsibility than saving people from texting-and-driving accidents. As Arj contemplates giving up on everything, Gabriel gets an idea to prove his mettle. What if he switched Arj’s life with Jeff’s to show him that wealth isn’t everything?

Naturally, nothing goes as planned in this Freaky Friday scenario. Turns out a hefty bank account does solve much of Arj’s unhappiness. Jeff, meanwhile, now works for Not Uber Eats and struggles to live an everyday life.

All of this material unfolds with a chillaxed hand, noticeably different from most modern comedies, which feel compelled to include gangster villains and gunfire. The Lost City, The Drop, Guns Up, The Lovebirds, so many of these yukfests devolve into bullets and generic crime movie shenanigans. Even the fitfully amusing Quiz Lady had forgettable mobster antagonists. Ansari’s script, meanwhile, keeps things breezier and action-free.

The emphasis here is on heart-to-heart chats on bus station benches or waxing poetic on the virtues of chicken nuggets. Adversaries don’t remain that way for long. More binds Good Fortune’s central players than separates them, which means the focus is on Gabriel, Arj, and Jeff taking cold plunges together instead of being at each other’s throats. Even Jeff is an affable billionaire rather than a Nicholas Hoult Lex Luthor-type. Little in Good Fortune is side-splittingly funny, but the breezy vibes are quite endearing.

It doesn’t hurt that such nonchalant pacing lets Reeves shine. Last week, Jared Leto in Tron: Ares struggled channeling Princess Giselle/Buddy the Elf/Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the pantheon of fantastical characters comically navigating everyday reality. Leto’s inadequacy as the archetype is only more apparent watching Reeves excel in that mold here. The Bill & Ted veteran is exceptional conveying childlike wonder with total ease and believability as Gabriel discovers everything from chewing to perspiration in his time on Earth.

Once Gabriel’s forced to work an actual job as a mortal human, Reeves’ demeanor becomes extra amusing. His 100% committed delivery of an angel discovering the horrific inequalities of reality is at once heartbreaking and amusing. Plus, how can you not cackle when the actor channels big “I think dogs should be able to vote!” energy when Gabriel gives a speech about how dogs deserve more? Reeves is just so delightful executing this wacky material with a straight face.

While Reeves thrives in Good Fortune’s informal confines, that aesthetic also consistently hinders the feature. Several scenes are awkwardly paced, with scenes frequently fizzling out rather than organically ending. This atmosphere’s also ill-suited for when the screenplay wants to get its Ken Loach on and talk about class. Suddenly, an observational comedy wringing gags out of not getting tipped enough for food delivery halts all the laughs. Now, the focus is on Elena and Arj delivering extended monologues about economic hardship.

It’s a relief to see a major theatrical release cognizant of the nonsensical obstacles facing working-class people today. However, there are more interesting ways to probe that material than flat after-school special speeches. Keke Palmer already did it once this year with One of Them Days. It never stopped delivering laughs, even as set pieces emphasized how payday loans and unaffordable ambulance rides. That thoughtful delivery of class commentary and humor evades Good Fortune. Instead, it clumsily oscillates between jokes about psychedelic-laced chocolate bars and sentimental speeches.

The chillaxed atmosphere also sucks urgency out of the picture’s acknowledgement that 2025 America is a Hellscape for working-class souls. Despite Arj declaring to a little kid that “the American dream is dead” during the opening credits, things never get too dark or grueling. Arj even stumbles into a job working for Jeff with ease, while that tech bro is kept relatively humane compared to the wickedness of actual billionaires.

Good Fortune is aiming for crowd-pleaser laughs, so it’s no surprise that Ansari doesn’t deliver a Matewan-style atmosphere. However, Society and Sorry to Bother You showed that raging against the machine and steady entertainment aren’t mutually exclusive elements. More fire in its belly would’ve given this new comedy more of a kick.

Separate from the placid climate is the movie’s most inescapable defect: Ansari’s limited acting range. A problem back in the days of Master of None, it hasn’t improved with the shift to the big screen. The first time Gabriel uses his magic to transport Arj into the future, Ansari’s incredibly flat depiction of shock undercuts the whole sequence. This is yet another A Million Ways to Die in the West case where a comedy movie’s director should not have been its leading man.

Despite these grave qualms, it’s hard to get too riled up about Good Fortune, either positively or negatively. Its low-key nature keeps it from hitting its full potential. However, it also ensures an agreeable 90-ish minute watch. Another pleasant surprise? Ansari and cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra’s camerawork constantly emphasizes wide shot visual gags. Several jokes click because extended single-takes and multiple layers of activity in a solitary image play into their execution.

Between The Naked Gun, One of Them Days, and now Good Fortune, it’s a relief to see mainstream theatrical comedies looking like movies again.

It isn’t enough, though, to erase this title’s shortcomings. In a decade delivering deliriously hysterical, unabashedly wacky yukfests (Hundreds of Beavers, Barbie, Bottoms), Good Fortune’s low-key tempo is sometimes competent but not very impactful. Not even the charms of Keanu Reeves and Keke Palmer can minimize that reality.

Good Fortune is currently winging its way through theatres.

Good Fortune Trailer: