I agree on the unlikely events being equal in both films. Neither of which bother me, by the way. I also think it’s telling that the people arguing one vs the other as being believable are choosing to ignore how gargantuan a planet is. It would be a one-in-a-million chance for stumbling onto them. **
Same for all the other convenient turns in Star Wars77. Poe & Finn crashing near Rey’s village is no more contrived than R2 & 3PO crashing near Luke.

While we’re on the subject; At least Lor is living near Rey and it’s there where the story begins. Makes a lot more sense than R2 spinning out of control towards - a planet - and very conveniently crashing near Luke and Ben. Then he just happens to be found by Jawas. Then just happens to be sold to Luke. Who just happens to live near Ben. Who just happens to have the lightsaber that belonged to Luke’s father. (In 1977, no one was related to each other and Tatooine was in the middle of nowhere).

The contrivances in Star Wars77 are every bit as unlikely as those which people seem to want to complain about in Force Awakens. Maybe even more so. If you want to complain that Force Awakens wasn’t as serious as Alien, as realistic as 2001, or as dark as Edge Of Tomorrow, fine. Go to it. It’s why we have this thread. At least have the decency to acknowledge those same weaknesses in Star Wars77.

** Of course, even then the odds would still favor the Empire since there is no way in hell R2 was rolling through miles and miles of sand dunes. Even as a little kid I could see it was fake. Wonder why he didn’t just fly into town? Oh, yeah…