An uneven oddity from writer/directors Joshua and Ben Safdie, GOOD TIME never generates the momentum its ‘one crazy night’ premise needs, but its mood is dark, its settings weird, and its characters eccentric enough that I recommend it. This tale of crime and urban living takes place in the streets of the Queens section of NYC. Robert Pattinson stars as Constantine “Connie” Nikas, a wiry scruff who teams up with his mentally-challenged younger brother Nick (Ben Safdie) for a bank robbery that goes all kinds of wrong. The dye packs explode, dousing them both in red. Connie somehow escapes but Nick runs through a glass door and is apprehended. Soon after he’s tossed in jail, Nick picks a fight with another prisoner that doesn’t end well for him and he’s transported to a hospital. Increasingly desperate, Connie spends the rest of the night trying to free his brother from captivity, a goal that involves a series of colorful characters that pass through Connie’s crusade. Jennifer Jason Leigh is strong in a couple of scenes as Corey, Connie’s high-strung older girlfriend who he tries to talk out of bail money when she’s not battling her imbalanced mother. Taliah Webster plays Crystal, a 16-year old black girl caught up in Connie’s scheme, and even seduced by him as he uses her to avoid the cops on his tail. That’s Barkhad Abdi (That Oscar-nominee guy from CAPTAIN PHILLIPS) as an ill-fated security guard at an amusement park who crosses Connie’s path, but you might not recognize him since you never see his face clearly. Then there’s Buddy Duress as Ray, a recently-paroled drug dealer so dense that he makes Connie look like Jason Bourne. Connie mistakenly breaks Ray out of the hospital, thinking he’s Nick, and the pair team up for a night of misfortune that takes up much of the film’s second half, one that includes an angry guard dog, a break-in at an amusement park, and a soda bottle filled with LSD.
Robert Pattinson does all he can to shed his pretty-boy TWILIGHT persona and while he’s excellent, his fan-base from that franchise will have little reason to embrace him here. Connnie’s a petty loser, nasty in his treatment of others, especially women and black folk, and generates almost no sympathy. Benny Safdie seems real as Nick, a quiet dullard on the verge of rage when introduced being grilled by a therapist (Peter Verby) in the film’s tense and well-written opening.
GOOD TIME tells an inventive crime story with style. Its 35mm camerawork is constantly in motion with artful, neon-lit nighttime imagery and tight close-ups. But it heads down so many peculiar side alleys and tangents from Connie’s initial quest that it goes off track and loses focus, scuttling some potential. I enjoyed GOOD TIME less for its craziness than for its control. The more bizarre and frantic the material, the less I felt the strength and sureness of the Safdie ‘s directorial hands. GOOD TIMES is not, ultimately, as satisfying as I’d hoped, but it’s never dull and I do recommend it.
3 1/2 of 5 Stars
GOOD TIME opens in St. Louis August 25th exclusively at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater
