Good Time (2017)

Good Time is the rare crime thriller that feels like a live wire: sweaty, neon-lit, and so relentlessly in motion you can practically hear New York’s pulse under every scene. The Safdie brothers direct with a street-level immediacy that turns each bad decision into a new pressure cooker, while the propulsive electronic score keeps tightening the vise without ever tipping into empty style. Robert Pattinson gives a ferocious, career-redefining performance—equal parts charisma and desperation—that makes you understand how someone can outrun consequences for a while, and why the bill always comes due. It’s not for viewers who want comfort or moral distance, but if you’re up for a gritty, breathless midnight odyssey, this one grabs you by the collar and doesn’t let go.

Good Time is trying to be a neon-lit, pressure-cooker thriller about desperation and brotherly loyalty, trapping you in one long, bad night where every choice makes things worse. It absolutely delivers on speed, grime, and nerve—Robert Pattinson is all twitchy charisma and the Safdies know how to make New York feel like a maze with sirens. But if you need characters you can root for, clean logic, or an ending that feels like a satisfying “payoff,” this can come off as contrived, emotionally chilly, and more exhausting than exhilarating. The film’s intensity is the point, yet it can feel like being dragged through chaos for its own sake, so if relentless anxiety and moral ugliness aren’t your idea of a good time, skip it.