Good Time
After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.
What critics thought
Good Time earned strong notices for Robert Pattinson's performance and the Safdies' kinetic, sensory filmmaking, but a vocal minority of critics pushed back hard, arguing that the film's gritty style papers over hollow characters and shopworn genre mechanics. The central fault line is whether the relentless energy feels genuinely alive or merely frenetic.
“Led by Robert Pattinson giving arguably his most commanding performance to date as a desperate bank robber cut from the same cloth as Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, this is a richly textured genre piece that packs a visceral charge in its restless widescreen visuals and adrenalizing music, which recalls the great mood-shaping movie scores of Tangerine Dream.”
David Rooney·The Hollywood Reporter
“For all its throttling thrills, Good Time is a film about a destructive love—and loving someone despite not having the right kind of love to give them. Ignore the deceptively convivial title: This is the kind of thrill that sticks.”
Emily Yoshida·Vulture
“just under two hours of pointless toxicity”
Rex Reed·The New York Observer
“Sometimes it flaunts its clichés—Nick's disability, and Benny Safdie's slack-jawed portrayal of it, is a big one—and other times it cloaks them in rough visual textures and jumpy, bumpy camera movements, so that a rickety genre thrill ride feels like something daring and new. It isn't. It's stale, empty and cold.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
Genres
Crime, Thriller, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorBenny Safdie, Josh Safdie
StarringRobert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh
ComposerDaniel Lopatin
Good Time
After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.
What critics thought
Good Time earned strong notices for Robert Pattinson's performance and the Safdies' kinetic, sensory filmmaking, but a vocal minority of critics pushed back hard, arguing that the film's gritty style papers over hollow characters and shopworn genre mechanics. The central fault line is whether the relentless energy feels genuinely alive or merely frenetic.
“Led by Robert Pattinson giving arguably his most commanding performance to date as a desperate bank robber cut from the same cloth as Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, this is a richly textured genre piece that packs a visceral charge in its restless widescreen visuals and adrenalizing music, which recalls the great mood-shaping movie scores of Tangerine Dream.”
David Rooney·The Hollywood Reporter
“For all its throttling thrills, Good Time is a film about a destructive love—and loving someone despite not having the right kind of love to give them. Ignore the deceptively convivial title: This is the kind of thrill that sticks.”
Emily Yoshida·Vulture
“just under two hours of pointless toxicity”
Rex Reed·The New York Observer
“Sometimes it flaunts its clichés—Nick's disability, and Benny Safdie's slack-jawed portrayal of it, is a big one—and other times it cloaks them in rough visual textures and jumpy, bumpy camera movements, so that a rickety genre thrill ride feels like something daring and new. It isn't. It's stale, empty and cold.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
Genres
Crime, Thriller, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorBenny Safdie, Josh Safdie
StarringRobert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh
ComposerDaniel Lopatin