“Don’t be confused. It’s just gonna make it worse for me.” —Connie
Today’s quick review: Good Time. Hoping to score big, Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) takes his mentally handicapped brother Nick (Benny Safdie) to help him rob a bank. But when Nick is arrested trying to escape, Connie is left with a dilemma: bail him out of jail right away, or risk him getting hurt behind bars. Short on bail money, Connie resorts to an increasingly desperate series of ploys to get his brother out of jail.
Good Time is a crime drama about a bank robber trying to free his brother from jail. Robert Pattinson stars as Connie, whose fraternal loyalty and sharp mind cannot make up for his poor judgment. Over the course of one unpredictable day, Connie takes his situation from bad to worse as his attempt to rescue Nick blow up in his face. Solid character work and an unconventional plot structure make Good Time an interesting watch.
Good Time has a knack for leaving its characters on the hook. Instead of the tidy progression seen in other crime movies, where the tension ebbs and flows according to a larger plot structure, Good Time lets its characters make their own choices and live with the consequences. From the moment Connie steps into the bank, he always has a crisis to deal with, whether it is scrounging up bail money for Nick or staying one step ahead of the cops.
One of the major draws of Good Time is seeing how Connie reacts to each new crisis. His plans are usually clever, relying on skillful lies that get him what he wants, but his constant search for an easy out ends up betraying him. Fans of organic stories with a strong focus on character will find that Good Time does something very few movies even attempt.
The catch is that Good Time can be hit-or-miss. The same qualities that set it apart can make it a frustrating watch. Connie spends most of the movie making one wrong choice after another, and he rarely seems to learn from his mistakes. The plot is a jumble of encounters with different people Connie tries to use for his plans. As such, Good Time may be a miss for viewers who are looking for a conventional story structure or catharsis.
For another crime drama about two brothers caught between a rock and a hard place, try American Heist. For a crime drama about a small-time crook who risks everything on a series of bad gambles, try Cardboard Gangster. For a more expansive look at mental disability, try Rain Man. For a darker story with a similarly erratic plot, try Running Scared.
[7.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846232/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for a chaotic plot and intimate storytelling.