October 20, 2025 • 15 mins
Ronald Young Jr. reviews Good Fortune…
RYJ thinks about the gig economy and whether or not he would choose to be poor again willingly after experiencing being rich
RYJ - 4.5 of 5 stars
Follow me on IG, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and Letterbxd - @ohitsbigron
Available in theaters
Starring Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh, and Keanu Reeves
Written and Directed by Aziz Ansari
For more information about Good Fortune check out this link
Support Leaving the Theater on Patreon using this link
RYJ thinks about the gig economy and whether or not he would choose to be poor again willingly after experiencing being rich
RYJ - 4.5 of 5 stars
Follow me on IG, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and Letterbxd - @ohitsbigron
Available in theaters
Starring Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh, and Keanu Reeves
Written and Directed by Aziz Ansari
For more information about Good Fortune check out this link
Support Leaving the Theater on Patreon using this link
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It is very expensive to be alive right now. For
the majority of folks attempting to get the basics food, water,
and safety. There is a lot of day to day insecurity.
Arge is a gig economy worker struggling to make ends meet,
but then he finds a job with a very rich
man and this chance encounter leads to Good Fortune.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Ronald Young Jr. And I'm leaving the theater. All right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
This is Ronald and I Am leaving the theater after
seeing good Fortune. Good Fortune written and directed by Azi's
I'm Sorry, starring Seth Rogen, AZ's I'm Sorry, Keiki Palmer,
Sandra O, and Keanu Reeves. And for a complete cast listing,
you can go to the link in our show notes.
(01:40):
It is just me today. Good Fortune is about a
gig economy worker who was hired to be a very
wealthy man's assistant. The gig economy worker played by Aziz
I'm Sorry, is struggling very hard with his life and
(02:00):
he is looking for some sort of relief, if you will,
and Keanu Reeves plays an angel whose entire realm of
responsibility is to stop people from texting and driving. And
Seth Rogan is the wealthy man that Aziz finds himself
(02:22):
working for. At some point in the movie, azaz and
Seth Rogan switch places and due to the influence of
the angel Gabriel played by Keanu Reeves, and as a result,
Seth Rogan is now a gig economy worker and assistant
to Aziz on Sorry, who is now a very wealthy man.
(02:43):
It's a comedy, which if that's not obvious from the
names that I said, Hi, you now know because I
told you. Keiki Palmer is also in the movie and
she plays a love interest for Aziz I'm Sorry, and
they both play the role very well.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I really liked this movie. I really liked this movie.
I think it would be very easy for a film
like this which is made by folks who are all
very wealthy. Aziz I'm Sorry got money, Seth Rogan got money,
Kiki Poper got money, Sandra O got money, Keanu Reeves
has money. But the film is done with such care
(03:25):
and attention and accuracy about the wealth gap, because that's
essentially what this movie is. It is commentary on the
wealth gap. Essentially, what this film does that other films
like this, like say Trading Places, don't do is. It
basically plays into the idea of if you were to
(03:48):
switch places with a rich person just because you learned
some sort of cartoonish lesson, i e. If you are
Ebenezer Scrooge and you switch places with a poor person,
would you learn the lesson or would you just want
to be rich again? And essentially a large portion of
(04:10):
the movie is everyone coming to the conclusion to some points,
at some points in a very hilarious way, that being
poor and actually not even being poor, not being rich sucks. Essentially,
this entire setup, all of capitalism, pushes us to want
(04:34):
to be rich, to basically try to find comfort in
working as hard as we can to obtain as much
as we can. And what I found surprising was that
when Asis I'm Sorry switches places with seth Rogen, the
movie does not let this idea off the hook. It
basically says, why would I want to be poor again
(04:57):
if I were rich now, especially in this society, which
I felt like was a very audacious position to take,
because it's honest. It's very honest, because there's so many
people that at the level that we're at now would
claim to say when I get rich, I will do
(05:18):
X Y and Z for my friends, for my family,
for poor folks, whatever. And this movie is basically putting
its money where its mouth is in a very significant
way that I just really enjoyed watching. And I think
at one point there's a character who I will not
(05:40):
reveal too much, but at one point there's a character
who is going through the process of discovering what it's
like to actually have to get a second job, have
to get a third job, figure out how to pay bills,
how expensive it is to be poor.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They get their car towed.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
To unpaid parking tickets, and they find out that they
have to pay all the tickets and the impound fee
and the tofie and the impound fee increases every single day.
So it's expensive to be poor. And as they're experiencing it,
every time we see this character, they're just a little
bit more stressed out, and they they depict this in
(06:22):
ways that were funny, and the audience laughed at but
I found myself watching this and not laughing nearly as much,
not because it's not funny. It is funny, but because
it was hitting the nail on the head. It was
so accurate that it felt like I was giving humph,
like those types of laughs as opposed to like big
(06:42):
belly laughs. I had a couple of big belly laughs.
But the movie is just it rings the bell about
the wealth gap, just over and over again. For most
people that know about it, this is not going to
be a surprise to you, but you might find yourself
pleasantly amused at the way that they tell this story.
(07:04):
I think the only other way that I know how
to compare this is if you enjoyed The Good Place,
you will likely also enjoy this because this is some
of the same work they were doing in the Good Place.
How much good do I have to do to make
it into heaven? Even if I did everything right, if
I crossed every te and doted every I would that
be enough to make it into the Good Place? And
(07:27):
this film is the same way. It's saying you now
have wealth, Now what are you going to do about it?
It's funny because it also because the runtime is a
tight ninety and I mean a tight ninety even the
credits weren't long. This by the time I get to
the end, it puts me in a position where I
could just sit and think about what I just watched,
(07:51):
you know, like I'm not necessarily, I'm not worn out.
From the time that I watched the film, it has
a beginning, middle, and an end, and even the parts
that I started to wonder are they going too far
with this?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
As I started to think that it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Switches and that is just it's so that was satisfying
to me. That was very, very satisfying to me. I
don't want to talk too much about this without talking
about disease. I'm sorry. He had an incident that came
up when he was accused of let's say, improper treatment
(08:25):
during a date. He did not behave so well during
a date, and it was kind of lumped up along
with every other me too story that happened at the time,
and of course, pawing closer examination, everyone agreed that this
wasn't exactly me too as much as it was disease.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Please do better when you go on dates.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Please read the room we were on a date, that
type of thing, y'all can read about that story. As
a result, there was a lot of projects that Disease
had that kind of went up and smoke. And I
was a person that I'd seen A Z's live few times.
I watched all his stand ups, I enjoyed everything that
he was on television wise, parks and recreation, and I
(09:07):
remember and then of course Master of None, which was
an excellent show on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And after all.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Of this happened with him, he kind of receded from
the public eye and took some time. And I saw
his stand up when he came back into the public eye,
and I remember he basically was talking about what the
situation was like for him. He apologizes, and he's kind
of apologized a lot about everything that had happened, and
I was really interested to see him get back to work,
(09:38):
get back to the thing that he does well, because
he does good work. Master of None is a very
contemplative series that really impacted me. I really didn't care
for the Lena Wafe season, but before that, the seasons
that were focused on in the disease, I really enjoyed.
And I guess I'm saying that to say for this
to be the piece of work that is kind of
(09:59):
his signature work since those days, it's a good piece
for him to come back with. And he's still as
sharp as I remember him being. He's still funny. He
acts in it, obviously, and he directed it did a
great job. There's a lot of great shots in this film.
It's written well. Yeah, I just I really enjoyed it.
(10:26):
And I think again, because the runtime is so short
at ninety minutes, it's really hard pressed for me to
find someone that I wanted to show this movie to
and not easily have them walk away saying, oh, yeah,
that was good. At the bare minimum, I think they're saying,
oh that was cute. That was cute. So yeah, I mean,
(10:48):
I guess the question is now that I like it
as much as I like Sinners, which I gave five
stars to, And man, that's actually a tough question because
I really enjoyed Sinners, but I also really enjoyed this.
I really enjoyed this. With all of that being said,
(11:11):
I'm gonna give this film four point five stars. I'm
gonna give it four point five stars. I think I
like Cinners just a little bit more. And I do
think when they get to the ending of good Fortune,
there was a direction I wish they had taken and
they didn't. I think that it ends in probably the
(11:31):
most peaceable way, but not necessarily in a way that
would have been the most satisfying to me. And I
think there was an avenue for this movie to end
in a more satisfying way, but they didn't quite take
that route. So that's the only thing I'll knock point
five stars off for. Other than that, I enjoyed this film.
(11:52):
I'd watch this if it were a series.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It's not. It's a movie. It's only ninety minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So yeah, four point five of five stars and with
that leaving the theater is a production of Oh It's
Big Round Studios. I mixed this episode Today's Tuesday. I
went to a press screening. I had to be here
by I like to get here around like six point
thirty six forty five. Movie starts at seven, and I
(12:19):
got here probably at six forty five, and I sat
in one of the only empty seats, only empty good
seats in the theater, next to this guy who was
kind of making a lot of mouth noises and smelt
a little strong, if you will. And I guess I
would have made it sooner, but this theater in rush
hour is about fifty minutes to an.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Hour from my home.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
As a result, I could have waited til the weekend,
but I would have had to pay for those tickets.
This was a press screening, so this was the screening
that I needed to go to. That is the type
of calculus that goes into every decision that I make
when it comes to leaving the theater. It's not easy.
It's a labor of love, but it is labor. If
(13:04):
that means something to you, you should become a patron.
You can go to patreon dot com slash leave in
the Theater. When you join Patreon, you get access to
early releases of each week's podcast episode. You'll get them
on Sunday, what everyone else gets them on Monday. Or
this past week which was a holiday, everyone got it
on Tuesday, and Patreon members still got it on Sunday,
(13:27):
So that's two days earlier than everyone else. And that'll
happen every time I edit. As soon as I'm done
editing the episode, the first thing I do is post
it to Patreon and it's commercial free there. There's no
ads on there. You get access to I don't like that.
I'm gonna post a new episode this week. You get
access to On the Couch, which is a video podcast.
Now the next episode I will be doing as the
(13:49):
Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to get ready
for the new Running Man with Glenn Powell, and you
get dissatisfaction of knowing that you're helping Leaving the Theater
continue to exist. It has been a joy finding out
ways to give more to patron members, so I appreciate y'all.
(14:09):
I just need y'all to recognize that this is a
labor of love. But it is labor if that means
something to you. Go to patreon dot com slash Leave
in the Theater or go to the link in our
show notes. Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme music by
the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information about good Fortune,
check out our show notes. You can follow me on Instagram,
(14:29):
Blue Sky, TikTok, threads, or Letterbox at ODS Big Round
That's at O h I T S b I g
R O N. You can find out more about this
show on other ODIs Big Round Studio shows by following
us on Instagram at ODS Big Round Studios.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Leaving the Theater will be back soon. Thanks for listening.
It is very expensive to be alive right now. For
the majority of folks attempting to get the basics food, water,
and safety. There is a lot of day to day insecurity.
Arge is a gig economy worker struggling to make ends meet,
but then he finds a job with a very rich
man and this chance encounter leads to Good Fortune.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Ronald Young Jr. And I'm leaving the theater. All right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
This is Ronald and I Am leaving the theater after
seeing good Fortune. Good Fortune written and directed by Azi's
I'm Sorry, starring Seth Rogen, AZ's I'm Sorry, Keiki Palmer,
Sandra O, and Keanu Reeves. And for a complete cast listing,
you can go to the link in our show notes.
(01:40):
It is just me today. Good Fortune is about a
gig economy worker who was hired to be a very
wealthy man's assistant. The gig economy worker played by Aziz
I'm Sorry, is struggling very hard with his life and
(02:00):
he is looking for some sort of relief, if you will,
and Keanu Reeves plays an angel whose entire realm of
responsibility is to stop people from texting and driving. And
Seth Rogan is the wealthy man that Aziz finds himself
(02:22):
working for. At some point in the movie, azaz and
Seth Rogan switch places and due to the influence of
the angel Gabriel played by Keanu Reeves, and as a result,
Seth Rogan is now a gig economy worker and assistant
to Aziz on Sorry, who is now a very wealthy man.
(02:43):
It's a comedy, which if that's not obvious from the
names that I said, Hi, you now know because I
told you. Keiki Palmer is also in the movie and
she plays a love interest for Aziz I'm Sorry, and
they both play the role very well.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I really liked this movie. I really liked this movie.
I think it would be very easy for a film
like this which is made by folks who are all
very wealthy. Aziz I'm Sorry got money, Seth Rogan got money,
Kiki Poper got money, Sandra O got money, Keanu Reeves
has money. But the film is done with such care
(03:25):
and attention and accuracy about the wealth gap, because that's
essentially what this movie is. It is commentary on the
wealth gap. Essentially, what this film does that other films
like this, like say Trading Places, don't do is. It
basically plays into the idea of if you were to
(03:48):
switch places with a rich person just because you learned
some sort of cartoonish lesson, i e. If you are
Ebenezer Scrooge and you switch places with a poor person,
would you learn the lesson or would you just want
to be rich again? And essentially a large portion of
(04:10):
the movie is everyone coming to the conclusion to some points,
at some points in a very hilarious way, that being
poor and actually not even being poor, not being rich sucks. Essentially,
this entire setup, all of capitalism, pushes us to want
(04:34):
to be rich, to basically try to find comfort in
working as hard as we can to obtain as much
as we can. And what I found surprising was that
when Asis I'm Sorry switches places with seth Rogen, the
movie does not let this idea off the hook. It
basically says, why would I want to be poor again
(04:57):
if I were rich now, especially in this society, which
I felt like was a very audacious position to take,
because it's honest. It's very honest, because there's so many
people that at the level that we're at now would
claim to say when I get rich, I will do
(05:18):
X Y and Z for my friends, for my family,
for poor folks, whatever. And this movie is basically putting
its money where its mouth is in a very significant
way that I just really enjoyed watching. And I think
at one point there's a character who I will not
(05:40):
reveal too much, but at one point there's a character
who is going through the process of discovering what it's
like to actually have to get a second job, have
to get a third job, figure out how to pay bills,
how expensive it is to be poor.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They get their car towed.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
To unpaid parking tickets, and they find out that they
have to pay all the tickets and the impound fee
and the tofie and the impound fee increases every single day.
So it's expensive to be poor. And as they're experiencing it,
every time we see this character, they're just a little
bit more stressed out, and they they depict this in
(06:22):
ways that were funny, and the audience laughed at but
I found myself watching this and not laughing nearly as much,
not because it's not funny. It is funny, but because
it was hitting the nail on the head. It was
so accurate that it felt like I was giving humph,
like those types of laughs as opposed to like big
(06:42):
belly laughs. I had a couple of big belly laughs.
But the movie is just it rings the bell about
the wealth gap, just over and over again. For most
people that know about it, this is not going to
be a surprise to you, but you might find yourself
pleasantly amused at the way that they tell this story.
(07:04):
I think the only other way that I know how
to compare this is if you enjoyed The Good Place,
you will likely also enjoy this because this is some
of the same work they were doing in the Good Place.
How much good do I have to do to make
it into heaven? Even if I did everything right, if
I crossed every te and doted every I would that
be enough to make it into the Good Place? And
(07:27):
this film is the same way. It's saying you now
have wealth, Now what are you going to do about it?
It's funny because it also because the runtime is a
tight ninety and I mean a tight ninety even the
credits weren't long. This by the time I get to
the end, it puts me in a position where I
could just sit and think about what I just watched,
(07:51):
you know, like I'm not necessarily, I'm not worn out.
From the time that I watched the film, it has
a beginning, middle, and an end, and even the parts
that I started to wonder are they going too far
with this?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
As I started to think that it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Switches and that is just it's so that was satisfying
to me. That was very, very satisfying to me. I
don't want to talk too much about this without talking
about disease. I'm sorry. He had an incident that came
up when he was accused of let's say, improper treatment
(08:25):
during a date. He did not behave so well during
a date, and it was kind of lumped up along
with every other me too story that happened at the time,
and of course, pawing closer examination, everyone agreed that this
wasn't exactly me too as much as it was disease.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Please do better when you go on dates.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Please read the room we were on a date, that
type of thing, y'all can read about that story. As
a result, there was a lot of projects that Disease
had that kind of went up and smoke. And I
was a person that I'd seen A Z's live few times.
I watched all his stand ups, I enjoyed everything that
he was on television wise, parks and recreation, and I
(09:07):
remember and then of course Master of None, which was
an excellent show on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And after all.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Of this happened with him, he kind of receded from
the public eye and took some time. And I saw
his stand up when he came back into the public eye,
and I remember he basically was talking about what the
situation was like for him. He apologizes, and he's kind
of apologized a lot about everything that had happened, and
I was really interested to see him get back to work,
(09:38):
get back to the thing that he does well, because
he does good work. Master of None is a very
contemplative series that really impacted me. I really didn't care
for the Lena Wafe season, but before that, the seasons
that were focused on in the disease, I really enjoyed.
And I guess I'm saying that to say for this
to be the piece of work that is kind of
(09:59):
his signature work since those days, it's a good piece
for him to come back with. And he's still as
sharp as I remember him being. He's still funny. He
acts in it, obviously, and he directed it did a
great job. There's a lot of great shots in this film.
It's written well. Yeah, I just I really enjoyed it.
(10:26):
And I think again, because the runtime is so short
at ninety minutes, it's really hard pressed for me to
find someone that I wanted to show this movie to
and not easily have them walk away saying, oh, yeah,
that was good. At the bare minimum, I think they're saying,
oh that was cute. That was cute. So yeah, I mean,
(10:48):
I guess the question is now that I like it
as much as I like Sinners, which I gave five
stars to, And man, that's actually a tough question because
I really enjoyed Sinners, but I also really enjoyed this.
I really enjoyed this. With all of that being said,
(11:11):
I'm gonna give this film four point five stars. I'm
gonna give it four point five stars. I think I
like Cinners just a little bit more. And I do
think when they get to the ending of good Fortune,
there was a direction I wish they had taken and
they didn't. I think that it ends in probably the
(11:31):
most peaceable way, but not necessarily in a way that
would have been the most satisfying to me. And I
think there was an avenue for this movie to end
in a more satisfying way, but they didn't quite take
that route. So that's the only thing I'll knock point
five stars off for. Other than that, I enjoyed this film.
(11:52):
I'd watch this if it were a series.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It's not. It's a movie. It's only ninety minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So yeah, four point five of five stars and with
that leaving the theater is a production of Oh It's
Big Round Studios. I mixed this episode Today's Tuesday. I
went to a press screening. I had to be here
by I like to get here around like six point
thirty six forty five. Movie starts at seven, and I
(12:19):
got here probably at six forty five, and I sat
in one of the only empty seats, only empty good
seats in the theater, next to this guy who was
kind of making a lot of mouth noises and smelt
a little strong, if you will. And I guess I
would have made it sooner, but this theater in rush
hour is about fifty minutes to an.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Hour from my home.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
As a result, I could have waited til the weekend,
but I would have had to pay for those tickets.
This was a press screening, so this was the screening
that I needed to go to. That is the type
of calculus that goes into every decision that I make
when it comes to leaving the theater. It's not easy.
It's a labor of love, but it is labor. If
(13:04):
that means something to you, you should become a patron.
You can go to patreon dot com slash leave in
the Theater. When you join Patreon, you get access to
early releases of each week's podcast episode. You'll get them
on Sunday, what everyone else gets them on Monday. Or
this past week which was a holiday, everyone got it
on Tuesday, and Patreon members still got it on Sunday,
(13:27):
So that's two days earlier than everyone else. And that'll
happen every time I edit. As soon as I'm done
editing the episode, the first thing I do is post
it to Patreon and it's commercial free there. There's no
ads on there. You get access to I don't like that.
I'm gonna post a new episode this week. You get
access to On the Couch, which is a video podcast.
Now the next episode I will be doing as the
(13:49):
Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to get ready
for the new Running Man with Glenn Powell, and you
get dissatisfaction of knowing that you're helping Leaving the Theater
continue to exist. It has been a joy finding out
ways to give more to patron members, so I appreciate y'all.
(14:09):
I just need y'all to recognize that this is a
labor of love. But it is labor if that means
something to you. Go to patreon dot com slash Leave
in the Theater or go to the link in our
show notes. Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme music by
the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information about good Fortune,
check out our show notes. You can follow me on Instagram,
(14:29):
Blue Sky, TikTok, threads, or Letterbox at ODS Big Round
That's at O h I T S b I g
R O N. You can find out more about this
show on other ODIs Big Round Studio shows by following
us on Instagram at ODS Big Round Studios.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Leaving the Theater will be back soon. Thanks for listening.
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