MPAA Rating: R/ Genre: Crime Thriller/Stars: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Lennice Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi, Necro, Peter Verby, Saida Mansoor, Gladys Mathon, Rose Gregorio, Eric Paykert, Astrid Corrales, Rachel Black, Hirakish Ranasaki, Maynard Nicholl, Ben Edelman, Robert Clohessy, Craig muMs Grant, Souléymane Sy Savané, Dorothi Fox, Evonne Walton/Runtime: 102 minutes

I think it is a fairly safe statement to make that although the love between two brothers can be quite the fantastic and powerful thing there should also be some limits put on that concept. A belief incidentally that definitely acquires a significant degree of weight should one brother be a hopelessly moronic to say nothing of fairly unlikable and consistently scheming member of the criminal element and the other be extremely susceptible in terms of their mental facilities. Yet in case you’re wondering if I just pulled those characteristics out of a hat like some kind of low-budget cinematic wizard I can assure you that is definitely not the case. Rather, I did one better. Namely I saw the slice of cinema I am reviewing for you today, 2017’s Good Time. Indeed here is a slice of cinema that will remind you of the iconic literary line “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”…..if someone proceeded to find and take a pretty strong eraser to the first part of the line. Yet although the vast majority of films that deal with idiotic schemers who engage in just as hopelessly moronic acts of criminality and then have to stay one step ahead of the fallout are ones that will make you laugh at best and moderately chuckle at worst I can safely say that is not the case here. This is because not only is this slice of cinema a comedy, but the circumstances afoot also don’t provoke any laughs either. Rather, this slice of cinema is a consistently on the edge of your seat-style thrill ride that puts story behind style and atmosphere though not to the detriment of the overall film. Along with that, the tempo is propelled forward by both a darn-near suffocating tension and a volatile lead character who always feels like he is one step away from a complete meltdown. A blend that helps to make this film an extremely bleak, quite anxiety-inducing, and fairly draining viewing experience. Indeed, it might not be constructed to operate as a social analysis, but this tale does have a few heartbreaking things to keep in mind about what it means to be human. Along with that, the events that play out in this are also tragically realistic. Suffice it to say that it is that degree of realism coupled with how potent the overall film is to say nothing of the performances from this film’s phenomenal cast especially from Robert Pattinson in the lead role to help make this as potent as it is. Suffice it to say then that it might not be the good time promised by the title, but this is still one film that, if you have the iron-clad fortitude for it, is definitely worth your while.

The plot is as follows: Taking us to no less a locale than New York City, Good Time gets its electrifying narrative underway in a rather distinct spot. That being by placing us right in the middle of a therapy session between a fairly skilled psychiatrist and his patient. We soon learn though that this patient, a young man named Nick, is one who suffers from a degree of impairment on both a cognitive and social level and is there because the court system has mandated it for reasons that aren’t exactly made quite clear to us. At any rate, we see that just as his psychiatrist is about to go down some avenues that Nick’s not entirely comfortable discussing that their session is involuntarily interrupted by the arrival of a tornado masquerading as a bad hair day-rocking and fake diamond earring-wearing young man named Connie. A young man who, among other noteworthy elements, also happens to be Nick’s protective and more than slightly sleazy older brother and who promptly involuntarily breaks the session up before then proceeding to take off with Nick. We soon learn that the reason ol’ sleazeball here ehhh I mean Connie has sprung his brother from psychiatric care is because he would like Nick to assist him in a woefully misguided attempt to rob a bank in the city for the fantastic sum of 65k. Not just for his brother’s benefit mind you, but out of an extreme sense of desperation for a better life as well. Yet, in the aftermath of an unforeseen wrinkle, we see that Nick is both swiftly caught by the police and then transferred to no less a locale than Rikers Island with his bail being set at 75,000 dollars. Fortunately, (?) for Nick, we see that in the ensuing chaos with law enforcement Connie was able to escape and, upon learning of his little brother’s dire set of circumstances, is now doing everything in his power to get the money together in order to bail him out. However, upon learning he is 10,000 dollars short of the required 75k, we see that Connie must now in the course of one lengthy yet chaotic night take part in a riveting and pull no punches odyssey through the seedy and sordid expanse of the underworld in the Big Apple in order to save the brother he loves more than life itself no matter what the cost to him or (just as crucially) his freedom.

Now right off the bat, it should be said that the work done by the various departments behind the camera is a wonderful mix of nightmarish, tense as heck, and yet riveting all rolled into one. This starts with the fact that, through another creative partnership with a phenomenal cinematographer by the name of Sean Price Williams, we see that the Safdie Brothers are able to provide this slice of cinema with an electrifying yet quite confined to say nothing of neon-drenched energy. An energy incidentally that, through the reinforcement of both truly potent close-up camera work and a low-key yet edgy undercurrent operates phenomenally well at putting you, the viewer face first in the anxious mindset of the main character without deterring from it in any significant way. Along with that, it should also be noted that this slice of cinema is the blessed recipient of an equal parts hypnotic yet also ebbing and flowing electronic musical accompaniment from Daniel Lopatin. Indeed not only does Lopatin make his musical accompaniment in this draw you into the film’s one night only race against the clock-type saga, but it also operates as a wonderful tribute to some of the scores that both equally as iconic film helmer John Carpenter to say nothing of the immensely talented group Tangerine Dream provided to cinema back in the day with particular regard to the latter example’s work on such slices of cinema as Thief from 1981 respectively. We also see that the Safdie Brothers also manage to do a fantastic job of drenching this slice of cinema’s distinct aesthetic with plenty of overbearing yet arresting fluorescent colors be they the kind found at a haunting ride at a deserted amusement part late at night or in a lit-up television screen in a dark room so that you find yourself having to blink at just how gaudy and glaring their distinct color palette gets whilst still being hooked at what is occurring on screen from a story and/or content perspective. Finally, it should be noted that if you are the kind of person who goes into a slice of cinema looking for your typical narrative style and components like distinct arcs for the respective cast of characters to go through then I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but with a monsoon of respect this slice of cinema might not be entirely for you. To be fair, there is a fairly riveting story here and the main character does have something resembling an arc in this so I guess it is there to an extent. It’s just that a slice of cinema like this is more focused on immersing you in the overall frenzied chaos surrounding the main character’s objective to say nothing of the sleazy, seedy, and more than just a tad bit questionably legal path through late night New York City that he embarks on in order to attempt to fulfill that objective. A feat incidentally that this slice of cinema proves itself to be quite successful at. Thus, the work done behind the camera may seem intent on making this film into nothing more than a waking and anxiety-triggering nightmare, but trust me when I say that is very much the point.

Of course, the other big component to this riveting slice of cinema working on the level that it does would be the work done by its truly phenomenal cast of players in front of the camera. With that being said, it should not come as a surprise to learn that the MVP of the cast would have to be Robert Pattinson in the lead role of Connie. Indeed if all you ever knew about Pattinson before this movie was that he was some pale guy named Edward who some people erroneously thought was a vampire then be prepared to be surprised because this is most certainly not that. Rather, this is an actual performance from an actor who, when this film first came out, was ready to show people he could genuinely act and boy does he deliver. Indeed the character of Connie is a very difficult role to play due to the fact that he is 99.8% quite unlikable and yet Pattinson does a fantastic job at not only making this unlikable character one that you don’t mind following, but also one that you almost (key word there) care about to say nothing of the plight he has found himself in. Suffice it to say it is a truly electrifying performance and one that shows that if you take the Twilight away from the actor then gosh darn is he capable of some great work! Yet even after taking into account the revelatory work done here by Pattinson in the lead role, there’s no denying that the rest of the cast is just as terrific in their respective roles. Indeed this starts with none other than this slice of cinema’s co-director Benny Safdie in the pivotal role of Connie’s little brother Nick. Indeed Benny does a fantastic job at playing this character as someone who, despite being absent from a fair bit of the movie, is equal parts vulnerable and yet also impacted by trauma from the past in ways he either can’t understand, admit, or both. Suffice it to say it is a potent performance and one that definitely shows Benny’s range as a talent. Along with the work done by Benny Safdie, we also get terrific work here from relative screen newcomer Taliah Webster in the role of an intrigued yet also innocent teenager who excitedly gets drawn into Connie’s hurricane of mischief and goes along with everything simply to relieve how bored their life seemingly is. Besides the aforementioned duo though, this slice of cinema also manages to benefit courtesy of immensely riveting performances from a pair of established (more or less) players in the land of movie magic in the forms of Jennifer Jason Leigh as Connie’s older but certainly not wiser girlfriend Corey and Barkhad “I’m the captain now” Abdi as a determined security guard who unfortunately gets in Connie’s way and learns the hard way why that might not be such a good idea. Indeed their screentime might be limited all things considered, but the two still manage to give really good performances all the same. Finally, I think praise should also be given to Buddy Duress who was one of the breakout stars of The Safdie Bros.’ 2015 riveting and nightmarish psychological drama Heaven Knows What and here gives an equally as electrifying performance in the pivotal, for reasons I won’t go into here, role of a mile-a-minute mouthed parolee by the name of Ray. Suffice it to say that it’s not that hard to see why all of the aforementioned players and the rest of the cast, both known and unknown, were so willing to work on this film as the dynamic brother directing duo behind it obviously have a fondness for letting them make the most of their respective characters no matter how big or small their amount of screentime may be. As a result, I can definitely say that whilst there may be issues with this film overall, but the work done by this immensely talented cast of players in front of the camera most assuredly is not one of them.

All in all I can’t really lie to you dear reader: the fact that the dynamic helming duo behind Good Time made the creative choice to name this slice of cinema that is both extremely gutsy as well as one of the funniest cruel jokes I’ve gladly fallen for in some time. I say that because the time you spend watching this adrenaline-charged slice of cinema you might not exactly find you a lot in the way of positivity, but you will most assuredly find yourself in equal parts on the edge of your seat, sweating buckets, and very much watching the cinematic equivalent of being in the club in the wee hours of the morning with the base thumping, the strobe lights glowing bright, and not only have you forgotten where the exit is to say nothing of your name, but astonishingly you really don’t care respectively. Yet even though that might not exactly sound like a, pardon the pun, good time to a fair number of viewers out there I must confess dear reader that I didn’t have a good time watching this slice of cinema. Rather, I had a great time. Yes this is a slice of cinema that I feel could best be summed up as a hybrid of the 1985 underrated Martin Scorsese dark comedy After Hours and 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon, but at the same time it is also so much more than that. Indeed, it’s an electrifying, engaging, taut as heck, wild, and just downright mesmerizingly thrill ride that I promise if you are the kind of person who loves either getting panic attacks every 15 minutes or having your anxiety elevated by a scale factor of about 12 for a solid 2 hour stretch of time then definitely check this film out. To be fair, this slice of cinema does have a few flaws here and there to be sure, but when the work both behind and in front of the camera is this plain magnetic and riveting then honestly who am I to quibble? Suffice it to say then that it might not be for everyone, but there is no denying that Good Time is a genuinely great slice of cinema that will grab you by the arm, go from about 0-100, and proceed to take you on a genuinely wild and crazy journey that I promise you aren’t likely to forget any time soon. On a scale of 1-5 I give Good Time “2017” a solid 4 out of 5.