"Good Fortune"

​                         Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:   
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     "Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

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​"Good Fortune"

       Last weekend my mate and I had a hankering to go out and see a movie. I chose for us "Good Fortune," a comedy starring Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogan that had received medium Rotten Tomato reviews and which looked to be some light bro humor and silliness injected into a fairly predictable plot, but fine for an hour and a half getaway.
      I certainly had no expectations that this movie would be uplifting, inspiring, heart-touching, though-provoking, or a Kleenex grabber. And yet, much to my surprise, that's what "Good Fortune" turned out to be. I had no idea I was going to love this movie, but I did.
       The plot line revolves around a guardian angel named Gabriel, sweetly played by Keanu Reeves, who yearns for a more meaningful mission than his low-rung job of watching over people who text while driving, ​

       Enter Arj, an exhausted, down-on-his luck human played by Aziz Ansari who is struggling to survive in the work-two-or-three-jobs gig economy.  Gabriel sees in Arj's despondency an opportunity to do something worthwhile by teaching Arj to appreciate that money won't solve all his problems.

     To this end Gabriel uses his angelic powers to let Arj switch lives with Jeff, a billionaire Los Angeles tech bro played by Seth Rogan. 

      Needless to say, Gabriel's plan goes awry in ways that he doesn't see coming and, happily for the movie audience, neither do we.   

     Woven in between the laughs, of which there plenty, 

​...the movie paints a picture of life for working people upon whose backs are made the fortunes of corporate millionaires and billionaires who could well afford to pay a living wage and benefits to their workers but don't because coming up with ways to suck in the most possible money, more money than anyone could spend in half a dozen lifetimes, is the zeitgeisty American business model.  And besides, there's no shortage of people who must work out of necessity for less money than they need to live on and for negligible or no benefits.

    The film also makes the point that what most of us  desire is to lead a productive life, not to have it all but to have enough, and to have human connection, people with whom we can share the simple pleasures and joys that life is actually full of.

     And sometimes we need a guardian angel while other times we may be called to be someone else's guardian angel.  ​

     Go out and see "Good Fortune," or wait until it's on streaming, but do see it. You'll feel good afterwards, and just maybe you'll find yourself resolving to be a better tipper and a person who leaves gig workers nothing but five-star reviews.