If you can accept that Good Time isn’t the dramatic crime story you are expecting from the trailer, you’ll find yourself enjoying a bonkers ride, leaving you dizzy with wonderment.
What’s it all about? Robert Pattinson truly wants you to get over the fact that he played a very well-received vampire with a soul in Twilight as he expands his acting repertoire in films like Bel Ami, Maps To The Stars and his latest work with directors Josh and Benny Safdie in Good Time – part of the Thrill strand at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.
Pattinson plays Constantine (Connie) Niklas, a low-life criminal who is driven by his desire to steal and make a quick buck. He’s somewhat witty and even polite for a bank robber no less, but make no mistake, Connie will do whatever he can to protect his socially-disabled brother who finds himself in lock-up after their heist goes array. What starts out as an honest, yet risky attempt to bust his brother out of the police-guarded wing of the hospital ends up transcending into an evening of fucked up misadventures as he encounters some “quite interesting” support characters along the way. These misadventures are what makes the film so damn interesting.
Why is it good? If you love films that aren’t quite what they seem, then you’ll probably love Good Time, just as I did. At the point of thinking this film will solely be based around some pointless bank robbery, you find yourself entrenched in the sub-plots involving a random young black girl and an acid recovery mission gone bad at an amusement park.
Good Time is truly bonkers. Bonkers in every sense. I found myself laughing, feeling empathetic and rooting for a criminal that just can’t seem to make the right decisions. Set to an impressive soundtrack that pulsates and keeps the film fast-moving, Good Time is well-worth seeing when it lands in your local art-house cinema.
Good Time was released in the US over the summer, but hits UK theatres on November 17th.
Check out Phil Marriott and myself chatting about some of the films and presentations at BFI London Film Festival including Good Time.