Allow Keanu Reeves Smile More: A Look at His Role in the New Film

Good Fortune, the whimsical film by actor Aziz Ansari, has been facing challenges at the box office. Many factors could explain its performance: The generic name doesn't convey the movie's distinctive charm. The screenplay can be moralizing and heavy-handed with the messages. Its performances are flat and presentational, like the cast were reciting dialogue straight from the page. Moreover, the film comes during an era marked by financial anxiety and inequality, that may render audiences not very receptive to a story that suggests rich individuals have every benefits while the poor possess spirit.

However, this is where Good Fortune excels: It's unique, daring, creative, frequently funny, and undoubtedly timely. And, it provides an unexpectedly enjoyable Keanu Reeves character-driven experience.

Reeves as an Guardian: A Familiar Performance

I have never regarded Keanu Reeves a strong performer. His monotonal delivery and consistent look of mild concern has consistently seemed limited, regardless of the broad variety of roles he has played during the last 40 years. Astute directors have cast Reeves in roles in which his rigidity fits ideally, from My Own Private Idaho to the sci-fi classic to John Wick. But nearly all of those characters called for Reeves to appear tough, closed-off, and detached.

In Good Fortune, the actor portrays Gabriel, a minor protecting angel assigned with looking after individuals that use their phones while behind the wheel. The character's whole job involves remaining in his vehicles and lightly making contact with their shoulders as they're about to have an accident, alerting the person in order that the driver stop in time. However, when standing overlooking the city, gazing on humanity like an alternative interpretation of the angel from the director's renowned movie Wings of Desire, Gabriel becomes aspirational. He wants to become a great guardian and rescuer of wayward individuals.

A Unexpected Shift: Keanu Playing a Human

So, he reveals his presence to struggling handyman a character (portrayed by Aziz Ansari), who's residing out of his car and cursing his life. The angel proceeds to exchanges Arj with the existence of extremely rich businessman a character (acted by the comedian). The idea of the experiment was that the character to understand the wealthy man's life comes with significant drawbacks, and gratefully return to his original circumstances, much like the character from the classic film.

Problem is, Arj right away discovers that Jeff's problems (boring appointments, a pricey pool-heater bill) prove negligible and readily resolved with money. He further sees that becoming rich provides endless opportunities for pleasurable fun. He has no interest in returning to his own life, and the angel is unable to compel him to go back. Subsequently, additional bad news arrives: For overstepping his duties and disrupting the balance of existence, Gabriel loses his position from his angel job, and transformed into a human being.

The Revelation: The Actor Smiles

I was never convinced by the actor playing an angel with big dreams and an intense wish to effect change. Reeves delivers a familiar somewhat constipated acting he has consistently providing for at least the last three decades. Watching him as an angel that has just become human for the first time, however, proved to be highly entertaining, for a reason which truly surprised me at first: This is an element new for Reeves. Or to be precise, an aspect old.

Early during his baffling career as a mortal, staying with Jeff (whom the angel exchanged into the handyman's precarious existence and jobless situation), Gabriel begins hesitantly experimenting with everyday activities like eating and swallowing food. And the actor smiles. Authentically, cautiously, joyously smiles. (It's a lot much convincing than the grin shown in the poster, which looks digitally altered.)

Why That Grin Is Significant

The moment truly took me aback to realize how unexpected and welcome the expression felt. At what point was the last time we saw the actor smile in a movie in which he wasn't showing ill will, irony, or bitterness? The actor probably tries a smile somewhere in 2020's ill-conceived the sequel, however I am not going to returning to that disappointment to find out. The actor has remained stuck with serious, murderous, introspective, or just serious roles for such a duration that merely watching him grin felt like seeing a completely new actor.

As the story progresses, the character finds himself having to get a dishwashing position, a role that fails to provide enough for survival, and Gabriel starts smoking heavily due to disappointment. Just the image of Reeves in a disposable plastic food-service cap, with his recent signature locks pulled back in a plain bun, slouching against a building and smoking a smoke, is worth watching. His dishwasher getup totally changes his face and body: Suddenly, the lean, suited physical powerhouse of the John Wick movies is gawky, ordinary, and a lot increasingly relatable.

The Pleasure of Viewing Keanu Loosen Up

Good Fortune is not always fun to watch, especially when Ansari (who additionally authored the screenplay) has to create believable explanations for {Ar