It feels like Aziz Ansari has been absent from popular culture much longer than he actually has. Before 2018, it felt like the dude was inescapable — big-budget movies, stints on iconic TV shows (animated or not), and a surprising bestseller — until the bottom fell out, and the title Modern Romance became all-too-ironic. Now, we see the assortment of rakes laid out in front of us, and we’re not going to step in any of them or, perhaps more precisely, we’re not going to step in any more of them. The point is, anyone who says he’s making a comeback isn’t paying attention because the dude’s been working hard for the last seven years. Netflix comedy specials, regularly sold-out tours, and even directing episodes of Master of None, the streaming show he used to star in: Yeah, this qualifies as hustling. Now, he’s making his feature-film directorial debut with Good Fortune, which Lionsgate dropped the first teaser for earlier on Wednesday.
Originally, Ansari was going to do an adaptation of Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, but Bill Murray fucked all of that up. Now, he’s found a collaborator upon whom he and the rest of his ensemble (Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer) can depend not to be an asshole (we hope and pray, that is): Keanu Reeves, who is literally playing a guardian angel in the film who’s kind of dressed like Rufus from Bill and Ted. Yeah, it’s a comedy about the tech world — a gig worker (Ansari) and a venture capitalist (Rogen) — getting the It’s a Wonderful Life experience. Know what? It looks pretty damn funny. It’s up to you if you want to check it out, but it’s settled for us, as we’ve got to.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis for Good Fortune:
“In ‘Good Fortune,’ a well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker (Aziz Ansari) and a wealthy venture capitalist (Seth Rogen).”
Good Fortune hits theaters on October 17.