Keanu Reeves' Bonkers 79% RT Fantasy Finds Redemption on Streaming

Published Sep 11, 2026, 11:09 PM EDT

Mitchell Brown is a Wisconsin-based writer, film fanatic, and graduate of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written for various publications covering film analysis, reviews (both classic and contemporary), and movie news. He's also a screenwriter, having written multiple spec scripts. When he's not watching movies, writing movies, or writing about the films he's already seen...no, that about covers it.

Keanu Reeves is one of those actors who's effectively beloved by everybody. In addition to being well-liked throughout his career and developing a reputation for being a down-to-earth person—as well as the source of the most wholesome meme of all time—he's also an iconic action star, with John Wick being a career-defining role, even after having plenty of other famous characters named John in his demo reel. However, while that's become the role modern audiences associate him with, it's easy to forget how funny Reeves can be when given the right material, especially as a reflection of his real-life persona. So it's welcome news that people are rediscovering his funny side with his most recent film, Good Fortune, which is currently among the top five most popular films streaming on Prime Video.

The film was written and directed by Aziz Ansari, who stars as Arj, a guy who's down on his luck in Los Angeles after getting fired by his tech bro-billionaire boss, Jeff (Seth Rogen). At his lowest point, Arj gets visited by the angel Gabriel (Reeves), who gives him Jeff's life as a way to show him that he wouldn't be happier with exorbitant wealth, and that the grass isn't greener on the other side, only to realize...it is. In fact, it's so green, it's like a shade of harlequin. Now mortal and stripped of his angelic abilities, Gabriel rooms with Jeff as they try to figure out how they're going to get by financially, while also trying to convince Arj to switch back to his old life, and hold out hope that it will improve.

'Good Fortune' Is An Aziz Ansari Vehicle (But Keanu Reeves is Driving)

Image via TIFF

Usually, when actors write and/or direct themselves in a leading role, it's to create opportunities for themselves, to prove they can captain a major production as well as show off their acting chops (i.e., the Good Will Hunting approach). So it is surprising that while Aziz Ansari is the lead, he didn't give himself the scene-stealing role of Gabriel, and instead wrote it with Keanu in mind. Once the life-switch happens, Arj mostly takes a backseat, and after Gabriel becomes mortal, it truly becomes his movie. His transition from naive but well-meaning, to a mortal frustrated with the reality of being an adult in the modern workforce, is like the comedic counterbalance to Nicolas Cage's plight as Seth in City of Angels. Seth learned that love is worth the cost of feeling pain when it's abruptly taken away, and Gabriel learns that life sucks, but tacos are great and dancing is fun. And at the end of the day, isn't that a lesson everyone could learn?

While the writing is funny, it's Keanu's performance as Gabriel that sells everything. Fish-out-of-water comedy is often a safe bet to make an audience gravitate towards a character, but there's something about the complete sincerity of Keanu's delivery that makes every line automatically funnier. The early stages of his discovery of human activities and excitement about the experience is one of the highlights of the story. Gabriel trying food for the first time—and the pure joy of successfully eating without choking and enjoying the taste of a milkshake—is one of the most delightful things ever. It's made better by Jeff calling him a big boy, and Gabriel smiling and replying, "Yeah, I'm a big boy." Though the film plays it up like he's supposed to be dumb, Reeves plays it more like he just doesn't know any better, but he's always coming from a good place. That's the other thing: Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen as a comedic duo...would not have guessed that pairing, but they have great chemistry together, and it's one of the high points of the film.

'Good Fortune' Subverts the Body-Swap Formula

Keanu as a guardian angel—one who doesn't actually know what he's doing or understand what aspects of life would be worth looking forward to—is also a fun twist on the It's a Wonderful Life and Freaky Friday-esque story tropes that the movie plays with. Good Fortune isn't ridiculously mean-spirited, but it is weirdly liberating in that it isn't afraid to punch down for comedy. It even subverts the message of every body-switching story (i.e., "We're not so different after all.") with Arj confirming that Jeff's life is way better than his, and refusing to switch back. And considering that Gabriel went all Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (not Christmas Future) and showed Arj that his life wasn't going to get much better, why would he want to go back? It's not that all movies need this level of cynicism. But having a comedy with that level of transparency is oddly refreshing, and the harshness of it just makes it funnier when it's delivered with Keanu's infectious smile and (initial) optimism.

Seeing Keanu take a dip back into the comedic waters that he started out in, with the familiar affability of Ted "Theodore" Logan, was a welcome return. It was also probably a welcome change of pace for him as an actor since he didn't have to do any stunts — though Reeves did manage to crack his kneecap in an on-set accident. That making one comedy film was more dangerous for him than four John Wick movies is an unreal level of irony, but since he's Keanu, he took it like a champ and made a joke of it. And that actually sums up a lot of the film's appeal. Good Fortune isn't groundbreaking by any means, but it's a solid comedy that's worth checking out thanks to Keanu Reeves' performance as Gabriel, and his great chemistry with...well, everyone.