“Good Fortune,” “Eternity,” and the Return of the Heavenly Comedy
Hollywood has been making movies loosely based around ideas of Christianity for decades. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a classic example. An angel comes to Earth and shows a man what his friends’ and family’s lives would be like if he’d never been born.
Another is 1991’s “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks playing a man who meets the love of his life after he’s dead, but must defend his actions on Earth before ascending with her to heaven. Other films in this loosely defined yet still somehow specific genre include “Heaven Can Wait,” “Down to Earth,” “Oh, God!”, “A Life Less Ordinary,” and countless others.
We used to get one of these movies every couple of years, a warm-hearted and high concept spin on the afterlife, but it’s been a while. Now, suddenly, we have two in “Eternity” and “Good Fortune.” Both of these perfectly fine, often very funny movies, fit perfectly in the pantheon of what I’m now referring to as the pseudo-religious supernatural comedy.
“Eternity” stars Elizabeth Olson as a woman who is reunited in the afterlife with not one, but two husbands. One she spent her whole life with, while the other died young and has been waiting for her to join him for decades. Now Olson has to choose who to spend “Eternity” with. I spent the whole movie thinking “My mom would love this.”
“Good Fortune” stars Aziz Ansari as a struggling film editor who is barely getting by working in the gig economy. Keanu Reeves plays a guardian angel who specializes in making sure people don’t text and drive, who pushes the boundaries of his heavenly responsibilities and body swaps Aziz with a rich guy played by Seth Rogen. The goal is to show him that being rich isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but of course that’s not how it works out.
If you enjoyed seeing George Burns play God or George Bailey learn why his life was worth living, you’ll like “Good Fortune” and “Eternity.”
Rating: 7/10 for both
“Eternity” is in theaters and “Good Fortune” is available on VOD.
