Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. Are you not entertained?

I missed the gig economy life. I often wonder, had I not lost my vision, would I have joined the masses in picking up food, groceries, or driving strangers around?Aziz Ansari has also missed out on this phenomenon, as he has been well known as a stand-up for years, with Parks and Recreation really boosting his career in 2009. I doubt he did much gig work before, but likely worked enough part time jobs to understand the struggle is real.We’re the same age, and by 2009 I had already worked for four different movie theater chains, managed a rental store, worked for a theme park, and tried to do that while stumbling through school.

In a Trading Places format, Aziz explores the good life and the not-so-good life, asking us if it is possible to actually want to choose the struggle over unearned wealth. Arj (Ansari) works a bunch of different jobs, with none of them being enough or amounting to enough for him to survive. He has his eyes on a girl (Keke Palmer), who is going through the same struggle, but can’t really afford a date. hell, he can’t afford anything. but, a chance encounter has him meet Jeff (Seth Rogen), who is one of those wealthy angel investors no one is actually sure how they got there, or what it is they do. He basically just enjoys the fruits of his investments everyday. Arj gets a trial run as his personal assistant, which pulls him out of the gig life, and then gets fired after Jeff recommends a restaurant too pricey and Arj uses the expense credit card. Down on his luck, no money, or home, Arj is looking like a lost soul.

Enter Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), who has actually been watching this whole time. He’s an angel, in charge of saving people who are texting and driving. He wants to do more, so he steps in to help Arj and show him that he has more to live for. Hilariously, a glimpse into his future shows his life getting worse, so Gabriel decides to flip Arj and Jeff’s lives around. Arj now has everything, and is supposed to feel the agony of Jeff’s easy life, while Jeff has been brainwashed into a gig economy worker. He doesn’t remember anything.It isn’t a body swap, they fully swap lives, as if they were always this way. the only way this ends, is that Arj has to actually choose to go back. Good luck with that.

Aziz has a pretty broadly entertaining film that also has something to say about the quality of life and cost of living in this country. people just keep working, and working, hoping to earn just barely enough to get by. As Ansari points out, the old ways of living are gone. The dream of having one job to support you and your family, having time off to spend with them, or disposable income is just not a reality people live in. When one of the leads is forced to work at a restaurant in the kitchen, they lament how their first paycheck isn’t enough. He asks the more experienced employee how he does it, and he responds “I don’t know. I have three jobs.”

Ansari aims to entertain and also advocate for those on the bottom of the food chain by pointing out how inadequate our choices are, and how unsustainable it all is. While characters like Jeff accumulate wealth, people like Arj have to fight for tips, and battle the increasing use of robots to perform tasks.

Aziz is great, pulling off the triple threat. His directorial debut, mounting his return to the screen, and doing so with a solid performance that reminds you why you have been missing the master of none. Seth Rogen is also great in the rich bro role, and has some lovely moments. Both Ansari and Rogen know their brand, and stick to it.

There’s something off about Keanu Reeves though. it isn’t that he’s bad, it feels as though he’s unaware of his general persona, and Ansari directed him while explaining it, instead of the “you do you” approach. So some moments are clunky, because reeves doesn’t quite understand why he’s perfect for the role, and instead feels like he’s trying to do an impression of himself. However, the way Ansari uses Gabriel is delightful, and makes up for a lot of it. Before the end of the film, he’s an entirely different being.

lastly, Keke Palmer is the heart of this, and while she doesn’t get to have the crazy humor she brought to One Of Them Days, she is the calm in this storm.She is highly relatable, and impossible to root against. Whether she ends up with Arj or not, you still want her to have a better life, because she deserves it.

I didn’t love the audio description track. There were too many transitions to other locations that were confusing. I’m willing to concede that the writer was defeated by the dialogue heavy film, but I also wonder if a more experienced writer couldn’t have found better beats. If I had done the quality check on this, I would have said “is this really the best we can do?” It might be. So, that’s the difference between simply not being a fan of something, and also just saying it was garbage. I’m not convinced this is garbage, I just know if is nowhere near the top of my lists for excellence in audio description.

I wish Ansari had pushed a bit more on some little aspects of the story, like focusing more on what Arj would do if given large sums of money. There’s a subtle mention of him helping out someone financially, but not really focused on as a theme.

Ansari is headed down the right path in his feature directorial debut, offering audiences laughter along with some tough questions about whether or not we’ve done anything to improve the quality of life in America.

Fresh: Final Grade: 7.8/10