Good Time: An emotional drama disguised as an action thriller

The Safdie brothers are known for bringing us stress-filled emotional joyrides of action. Typically those without happy endings. The fourth film they directed and wrote together is no different, although its message feels more emotional than the others in my opinion. At its surface, this film is about two brothers, one of whom is far worse of a person, having a bank robbery gone wrong and then attempting to clean up from it. We have Connie Nikas, the cool, persuasive brother. Rough around the edges, but at his core, he loves his brother. On the other side, we have Nick, the mentally impaired brother with anger issues. We never fully learn their story, but it’s easy to piece together. Let's dive in and do just that. 

The film's opening sets the underlying theme very well. We start out with Nick, sitting across from a doctor in some sort of therapy session. We don’t know anything else about their session apart from what we see. It seems to be an evaluation, as he’s being asked how he reacts to certain situations. We can see that the Safdie brothers quickly developed Nick. He’s obviously mentally impaired, and then he starts to get mad at his doctor for writing things down. He doesn’t like it, nor understand it. We immediately see this person we can understand and know, not just Benny Safdie dressed up and acting. Within 5 minutes, we get to know our second character, Connie, very well. He barges into the session, yells at the doctor for making him do things that Nick doesn’t want, and then pulls him away, telling Nick that Connie and each other are all they need. We get a great taste of this character quickly, too. Robert Pattinson gives an amazing performance, immediately showing his anger and intensity, as well as his love for his brother quite quickly. We don’t fully like Connie, but we don’t hate him either.

The bread and butter of the film then starts, but I won’t give a play-by-play. Just a quick summary, and then highlight the character building we see. Immediately, we join Connie and Nick in a bank robbery. They wear masks, get the money in a bag, and then leave. So far, we have spent more time getting to know the brothers than we did knowing about their plot to rob a bank. Throughout the robbery, Connie is constantly reassuring Nick that all will be okay. After the robbery, things start to go down, since one of the stacks of money was rigged. They all get sprayed in red, and Connie does what he can to keep them out of trouble. Eventually, the police stop them, and Nick runs. The police chase them and eventually catch Nick. Here we get a first look at Connie’s selfishness. He hesitates and then leaves his brother. A subtle detail, but one that ultimately brings out more character. 

We follow Nick's arrest, and his being placed in holding. He gets asked about his brother, and we learn about the problems with crime that Connie seems to get into. We learn of a broken family, of these two raised by their grandmother, who by the looks we see, wasn’t good to Connie or Nick, for that matter. After we learn more of their personal lives, Nick gets into a brawl in the jail, leaving him hospitalized. 

In the rest of the film, we see Connie and not Nick. This helps add to the thrill and also helps with a few major plot points, but it is also genius directing and writing since the only character highlighted is Connie. He talks so much about his brother, but he never does reach him in time, fitting with the theme of this film. Connie's first attempt to reconnect with his brother is to break him out of the hospital. Instead, he breaks out the wrong person. He and this new person, Ray, then join up to get some money for his brother's bail. This all fails in an ultimate climax - where we end with Connie in the back of a police car. 

The directing. The directing throughout this part is perfect. For a good while, we slowly get closer and closer to Connie’s face. The sounds around him are muffled. He stares forward, with knowledge of his own failure to save his brother. He sits there, and we feel it with him. We see that his resourcefulness has run out. Everything he tried to do didn’t work for once, and that’s it. The end. 

But it isn’t. We still have 5 minutes left in the film. The close-up immediately cuts to a close-up of Nick. He’s uninjured, out of jail, and back with the doctor. We watch him slowly change to like his doctor, and then he connects with the people around him as the credits roll.

It is a very dense film, and this only touches the surface. The action and intensity is great, and I love all of it. But that’s not what this is about, and you can feel it. What we see is an abrasive and intense brother, wanting to look out for his mentally impaired brother the only way he knows how. We see a mentally impaired man, whose only taste of real life is his brother and his abusive grandmother. His only taste of people is to act like his brother, which we see at the beginning when he yells at his doctor. Once his brother is gone, and out of the picture, he learns that the good he saw in his brother was only relative. The truth is his brother was a criminal and a manipulator, and just because he was miles better than his grandmother, doesn’t mean Connie was by any means a good person. 

It’s a bittersweet end, with Nick finally learning what people can be like, and how he can relate to them. It’s also bittersweet seeing Connie, an obviously damaged person, fail to keep those he loves safe. The whole film is a drama about two brothers trying their best through a world that’s been unkind to them. What makes the movie so good is the directing and writing. It’s an amazing story, and it’s put together just as well. Many people are upset when Ray comes in, they feel the focus drifts from Nick. But I think that's the point. It was never about Nick, but Connie’s one-track mind and selfishness were his downfalls. 

This is definitely a certified POP, and a 2/3. My only complaint would be that the beginning and the bank robbery feel rushed

How would you rate this movie?

• 10 :D
• 6-9 :)
• 1-5 :/
• 0 >:(