a GOOD TIME musing

Robert Pattinson stars in GOOD TIME.

Proving himself to be an actor capable of pulling off interesting characters with substance, Robert Pattinson (Connie) leads GOOD TIME, a frustrating (in a great way), dirty caper. Tragic in a way, Connie ruins the lives of so many others just by trying to take care of his mentally handicapped brother. The opening scene shows the state of the brother, Nick (played by Ben Safdie, one half of the directing duo brothers), while he talks to his therapist. Shot in mostly close ups, as most of the movie turns out to be, Connie picks him up right as Nick breaks down and they attempt to quietly rob a bank. Of course not everything goes quite to plan, and we’re led on a night of bad decisions and nastiness.

Connie is a bad person and a horrible decision maker, but he just wants to do a good thing for his brother, no matter how selfish it may seem. He’s trapped in his own self-inflicted poverty and well down the rabbit hole he jumped into. The Safdie brothers crawl through the underbelly of New York, weaving seedy characters into Connie’s wild night adventure. The script does a great job establishing the characters and why they would make the choices they did, and that’s all that matters to me, even though it can be wildly frustrating.

Although GOOD TIME can get exhausting, Pattinson was a great casting choice, where he is so charming even when being so smarmy and gross. Everything is literally in your face but adds to the urgency of Connie’s misadventure. Sometimes it can be hard to watch people making bad decisions, but the Safdie brothers handle the story, appropriately, with a sense of brotherly love rounded out by a great cast with fun, frustrating thrills.

RATING: GOING IN MY BLU-RAY COLLECTION

(Refer to my rating system HERE!)