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Good Time is a crime thriller with two brothers attempting a bank robbery which doesn’t quite go to plan. With one of them quite sharp, and the other mentally ill, and with Connie (Robert Pattinson) being a despicable individual, yet with his heart always in the right place for his brother, Nick (co-director and co-editor Benny Safdie), this has nods towards The Kray twins.
It’s not a film where you can adequately describe the plot, since it’s like a road movie where the plot goes from A to B to C, and so on. With an electric performance from Robert Pattinson, and good support from Safdie, plus Jennifer Jason Leigh as Connie’s girlfriend, Corey, Barkhad Abdi as a security guard, and Taliah Lennice Webster, as Crystal, whose role will be revealed at the time.
It also shows the random converations we have with random people, and as well as the Krays, there’s elements of The Getaway, as the film, in general, was going in directions that I wasn’t expecting.
Good Time is an unconventional indie film with a great vibe, it’s solidly entertaining, it never drags (unlike most films, these days), an ’80s-style Vangelis-like score, which even edges towards Blade Runner at times, which I wasn’t expecting, and it also has one rare thing which most movies can’t manage these days – a decent ending! It did feel a bit weird at first, but once you’ve taken time afterwards to think about the whole movie, it all makes great sense.
The film is presented in the original theatrical 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition, and the picture gets across some superb lighting, even in dark scenes, as it’s made to look like streetlights are resting on the faces of the cast.
As well as clear dialogue, the DTS 5.1 sound really comes alive with that score. It’s worth watching again just for that!
The extras are as follows:
- Good Time – The Pure and the Damned (18:14): A ‘making of’ which mixes chat from the cast and crew with on-set footage, and everyone clearly had a ‘good time’ working on this film, but as they also confirm, the title comes from inside jails when you get time off for good behaviour.
- Good Time – Music Video (4:41): with a very scary-looking Iffy Pop, as a CGI character!
- Theatrical Trailer (1:57): Cropped to around 2.00:1 for no particular reason.
- Audio commentary: with Robert Pattinson, Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Lennice Webster and one of the producers, but I couldn’t make out his name.
Good Time is out now on Blu-ray, Amazon Video and DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8.5 10 9 3 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 102 minutes
Year: 2017
Cat.no: ART222BD
Released: January 8th 2018
Chapters: 12
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (35mm, ARRIRAW (3.2K), Super 35, Techniscope)
Sound: DTS HD-MA 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Disc Format: BD50
Directors: Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
Producers: Sebastian Bear-McClard, Oscar Boyson, Terry Dougas and Paris Kasidokostas Latsis
Screenplay: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Music: Daniel Lopatin (as Oneohtrix Point Never)
Cast:
Connie Nikas: Robert Pattinson
Nick Nikas: Benny Safdie
Crystal: Taliah Lennice Webster
Corey Ellman: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Dash the Park Security Guard: Barkhad Abdi
Caliph: Necro
Peter the Psychiatrist: Peter Verby
Agapia Nikas: Saida Mansoor
Annie: Gladys Mathon
Loren Ellman: Rose Gregorio
Eric the Bail Bondsman: Eric Paykert
Bail Bondsman’s Assistant: Astrid Corrales
Rachel the Public Defender: Rachel Black
Trevor: Hirakish Ranasaki
Donnie: Maynard Nicholl
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.