Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson was born on May 13th, 1986 in London, England. While growing up he fell in love with acting and around age twelve he auditioned and landed roles for such plays as: Our Town, Guys and Dolls, and Anything Goes. While working in the theater he caught the eye of an acting agent who went on to help him land much more prestigious roles. Fast forward a couple of years and his start in Hollywood would be small but significant. Pattinson’s portrayal of the character “Older Rawdy Crawley” in 2004’s Vanity Fair gained him enough notoriety to help him land a significant part in the fourth installment in the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Since then he’s been thrust into the public spotlight and he gained a significant amount of renown when he began appearing as the lead male actor in the Twilight films. After those films wrapped up he has been mostly taking roles in under-the-radar indie films with his latest being Benny and Josh Safdie’s Good Time.
Connie Nikas (Rovert Pattinson) is the younger brother of Nick Nikas (Benny Safdie). Nick is mentally challenged and Connie is trying his best to try and take care of him. For an unknown reason, Connie decides that he wants to rob a bank and he convinces Nick to tag along. For the most part the robbery is successful, but upon escaping with the money, the police are notified and a chase ensues. Nick gets lost from Connie and the police eventually end up catching him. With his brother now in police custody, Connie must try and get him out of jail while also preserving the money he stole.
There are definitely several aspects of the film that I really enjoyed. However as a whole, I didn’t really like it. The cinematography was the most egregious part that I took issue with. The filmmakers are definitely going for a very gritty, documentary style approach but the lack of consistency in the framing and the image constantly going in-and-out of focus left me more annoyed rather than intrigued. In addition to the visuals, the soundtrack almost made me want to plug my ears. It’s filled with different electronic musical scores that featured high pitched noises being played at extremely unpleasant volume levels. Normally I don’t have a problem with this type of music but what I was presented with really rubbed me the wrong way.
The story is another element that I really couldn’t wrap my head around. It felt as if every new step that Robert Pattison’s character took was completely random and unexplained. Even from the beginning, I didn’t understand why he was robbing the bank. He just went and picked up his brother and then the next scene was the robbery. Did they need the money for something? I have no clue because the film feels like scenes are missing that would have explained such a thing.
The silver lining to everything would have to be the actors. Both Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie give outstanding performances that make them feel like fully fleshed-out characters. However without the context of the story, their performances aren’t able to repair a lot of the overall issues that I have with the film. That being said, Good Time is definitely far from the stereotypical bank robbery film and should probably just be skipped in my opinion.
Good Time: [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
About Good Time
Synopsis: A bank robber finds himself unable to evade those who are looking for him.
Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Writers: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi, Benny Safdie
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
Just call me “Turbo” because it sums me up in a single word. I’m originally from Visalia, California but currently reside in Mesa, Arizona. I’m a movie and video game fanatic with a BA in Film and Media Production from ASU. I try to see every movie that I can (new and old) as well as play the latest video game releases. My goal in life would be to create a feature length film which viewers absolutely love. However, until then I love to entertain people with my 100+ voice impersonations as well as fill them in with the latest movie/ gaming news on Twitter. Facebook.com/turbizl, Twitter: @turbizl
