Good TimeCrime doesn't pay; it charges compound interest. Good Time is a suspenseful crime drama about two brothers from Queens, New York--Constantine "Connie" Nikas (Robert Pattinson) and Nick Nikas (Ben Safdie)--who commit a bank robbery which leads to Nick being captured by the police and taken to Riker's Island. Nick is developmentally challenged, and Connie worries that he could get killed while he is incarcerated; when Connie tries to post bail, he comes up short. Connie engages in a series of risky misadventures to secure his brother's freedom, constantly pressing his luck at getting caught himself.
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Comparisons have been made between Good Time and Dog Day Afternoon--both protagonists are manic schemers who ratchet up the tension by taking increasingly daring chances, and convince themselves that they are serving a more benevolent purpose than their own urge to commit crime. Connie is not a good guy, despite the kindness and encouragement he gives to his brother. He is a compulsive liar, deceiving with such effortlessness that it becomes utterly impossible to tell when--and if--he is ever honest. He uses Nick as his accomplice out of practicality, yet goes out of his way to free Nick from prison. The police already know that Connie was involved--and was likely the "mastermind" of the heist--so Connie won't be saving his own skin by bailing out Nick; yet Connie goes to the trouble anyway. Connie shares no sympathy for Nick's mandated psychiatric sessions, and shows no remorse in bursting in to drag him out of counseling after his time is up. Connie sees himself as Nick's only true guardian, but still exploits him for his amateur caper, exposing his brother to a terrifying world of criminality. After his arrest, Nick is trapped in a crowded cell where inmates brawl and the police spray them down with mace through the bars--where changing the channel on the TV is an invitation for a savage beating. Connie is even willing to exploit his girlfriend, Corey (Jennifer Jason Leigh), into using her mother's credit card to pay the difference in bail money; this fails spectacularly at the bail bond office, showing how fast things deteriorate when people lose control over their finances. In a moment of pure irony, Connie is forced to use whatever untainted bills he has stolen from the bank to post bail for his brother, coming up about ten grand short. Good Time is a character study of the mindset of a desperate sociopath. Connie expresses little to no remorse at anything illegal or violent he does, so long as he does not get caught, and is quick to obfuscate the truth about his criminality. Connie makes a terrible mistake when he believes that he has successfully rescued his brother from a hospital, only later discovering that the man he grabbed is a stranger named Ray (Buddy Duress) who was also in police custody. (Good Time establishes how Connie could make such an error in an earlier scene where Nick is violently assaulted in jail.) Ever the opportunist, Connie convinces Ray to help him recover a stash of money at an amusement park after a story Ray shares his story about how he ended up in the hospital. Connie goes so far as to deceive a young girl named Crystal (Taliah Webster) into letting him use her grandmother's car to sneak into the park, endangering a minor in his illegal escapades. As each insane plot point segues into the next, Good Time becomes a living nightmare of criminal chaos and increasingly compromised morality, growing more and more insane over the course of one wild night.
A motif in Good Time is that crime is a way of life in New York City; even Connie's name brands him as a "con", someone who is a liar and a crook. The synth-heavy musical score by Oneohtrix Point Never speaks to the artificiality and soullessness in this vice-laden realm, where illegal acts are devoid of any real thrill, and criminals like Connie are a constant. Consider when Connie hears Ray's story about how he was recently released from prison, and almost immediately gets wasted and arrested again after unsuccessfully evading the police while in possession of a copious amount of illegal substances. This story isn't far removed from Connie's own recent run-in with the law, and reveals that he is far from unique. Connie is adept at cheating the system on the fly, and at turning most situations to his advantage. Connie puts on a routine for the police officer guarding the room at the hospital, suggesting he will get some food from a vending machine, which plants a subliminal suggestion in the cop's head that leads to him abandoning his post just long enough for Connie to sneak in. Bank robberies like Connie's must be so common that when the teller returns a note to him about how little money she has on hand, she cites that it is "policy" in a matter-of-fact way. After Connie schmoozes his way into Crystal's grandmother's apartment, he discovers that the sixteen year-old teenager likes to smoke marijuana. She likes to talk about her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend, and a series of containers in the refrigerator suggest that her and her grandmother cook up something more serious, like crystal meth. When Connie and Crystal are watching TV, all that's on television are reality TV shows about cops, commercials for lawyers, and news stories about crime. The world of Good Time isn't one where a bank robbery is an exception, but an inevitability--a symptom of a corrupt city where morality is a luxury. (Even the bail bondsman doesn't flinch at taking stolen money to pay for the bond.) This nocturnal New York City is a fun house mirror version of reality that recalls an equally strange journey through an urban underworld in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, or even Dante Alighieri's "Inferno". Connie's descent into darkness ultimately forces him to reevaluate his motives, which comes to light in a scene between Connie and Ray. Connie has been pressing Ray to get a hold of his brother, Caliph (Ron Raphael Braunstein a.k.a. Necro), to sell a Sprite bottle filled with LSD as part of Connie's continuing efforts to try to raise money. Ray tries to sympathize with Connie after discovering that he was a part of the recent bank robbery and is on the lamb, but Connie replies by moralizing and condescending to Ray. Connie has convinced himself that everything he has done has been justified as a necessary evil to save his brother, but the reality is that this is the biggest lie Connie tells himself to excuse his own selfishness and amorality, and becomes ashamed that he has let things get so far out of hand.
Recommended for: Fans of a stylish, gritty, and tense crime thriller about a pair of two very different brothers who cope with the aftermath of committing a felony in different ways. Good Time has a raw and vivid look to it, and the musical score and fast-moving plot gives it an energetic pulse from start to finish.
A motif in Good Time is that crime is a way of life in New York City; even Connie's name brands him as a "con", someone who is a liar and a crook. The synth-heavy musical score by Oneohtrix Point Never speaks to the artificiality and soullessness in this vice-laden realm, where illegal acts are devoid of any real thrill, and criminals like Connie are a constant. Consider when Connie hears Ray's story about how he was recently released from prison, and almost immediately gets wasted and arrested again after unsuccessfully evading the police while in possession of a copious amount of illegal substances. This story isn't far removed from Connie's own recent run-in with the law, and reveals that he is far from unique. Connie is adept at cheating the system on the fly, and at turning most situations to his advantage. Connie puts on a routine for the police officer guarding the room at the hospital, suggesting he will get some food from a vending machine, which plants a subliminal suggestion in the cop's head that leads to him abandoning his post just long enough for Connie to sneak in. Bank robberies like Connie's must be so common that when the teller returns a note to him about how little money she has on hand, she cites that it is "policy" in a matter-of-fact way. After Connie schmoozes his way into Crystal's grandmother's apartment, he discovers that the sixteen year-old teenager likes to smoke marijuana. She likes to talk about her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend, and a series of containers in the refrigerator suggest that her and her grandmother cook up something more serious, like crystal meth. When Connie and Crystal are watching TV, all that's on television are reality TV shows about cops, commercials for lawyers, and news stories about crime. The world of Good Time isn't one where a bank robbery is an exception, but an inevitability--a symptom of a corrupt city where morality is a luxury. (Even the bail bondsman doesn't flinch at taking stolen money to pay for the bond.) This nocturnal New York City is a fun house mirror version of reality that recalls an equally strange journey through an urban underworld in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, or even Dante Alighieri's "Inferno". Connie's descent into darkness ultimately forces him to reevaluate his motives, which comes to light in a scene between Connie and Ray. Connie has been pressing Ray to get a hold of his brother, Caliph (Ron Raphael Braunstein a.k.a. Necro), to sell a Sprite bottle filled with LSD as part of Connie's continuing efforts to try to raise money. Ray tries to sympathize with Connie after discovering that he was a part of the recent bank robbery and is on the lamb, but Connie replies by moralizing and condescending to Ray. Connie has convinced himself that everything he has done has been justified as a necessary evil to save his brother, but the reality is that this is the biggest lie Connie tells himself to excuse his own selfishness and amorality, and becomes ashamed that he has let things get so far out of hand.
Recommended for: Fans of a stylish, gritty, and tense crime thriller about a pair of two very different brothers who cope with the aftermath of committing a felony in different ways. Good Time has a raw and vivid look to it, and the musical score and fast-moving plot gives it an energetic pulse from start to finish.