SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
I knew very little about Robert Pattinson during his star-making period in the “Twilight” series. I know that I’m a bad critic because I skipped all of the “Twilight” films, instinctively knowing that they were not designed for me — all that “Team Edward vs. Team Jacob” crap, for example. But seeing Pattinson and his co-star Kristin Stewart pout and appear to appear to be ungrateful for their stardom on the “Twilight” red carpets really pissed me off. To me at least, they both came off as being entitled, and I have no patience for that, so I wrote them both off as being part of “The Fuckin’ Lucky Club.”
Then Stewart unexpectedly came to the attention of French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, who cast her in his 2014 film “Clouds of Sils Maria,” and Stewart knocked it out of the park, becoming the first American ever to win a Cesar Award (the French Oscar). And in the spring, she delivered one of this year’s best performances in Assayas’ ghost story “Personal Shopper.” I had to admit that Stewart delivered the goods. But Pattinson? The jury was still out.
I had heard good things about his performance from this year’s Cannes Film Festival about Pattinson’s performance in “Good Time,” but that could have been just PR hype. I wanted to see it for myself. So now that the film is in 635 theaters nationwide, I am able to say with certainty that Robert Pattinson is the real deal.
In fact, within the first 10 minutes of “Good Time,” I forgot I was watching Pattinson and felt I was looking at New York City lowlife Connie Nikas. (He’s that good.) His entrance is spectacular, bursting into a room where his mentally-challenged brother Nick (“Good Time’s” co-director Ben Safdie) is being subjected to a series of questions by a therapist.
Connie then dragoons Nick into putting on a mask and robbing a local bank. Things do not go as planned, and while Connie manages to escape, Nick is captured by the cops. Although Connie is now free, he agonizes as to how to get his brother out of police custody. When he hears that his brother has been sent to a local hospital because of an inmate beating, Connie puts an elaborate plan into place, but once he thinks he has his brother free, he gets a very rude surprise. A very rude surprise.
As strong as the supporting cast in “Good Time” may be, Robert Pattinson as in almost every shot — it is his story from beginning to end. And, boy, does he deliver. Pattinson was enormously impressive in a supporting role in this spring’s “The Lost City of Z” hiding behind a bushy beard and a pair of wire-rim glasses. I honestly didn’t realize it was him until the final credits rolled.
But nothing prepared me for what he’s done here. He manages to create a character who’s incredibly selfish and does some appalling things, but because he is trying to save his brother, we’re with him all the way throughout the course of an unpredictable night. Martin Scorsese, who is thanked in the credits, created a similar film about an wild night on the streets in “After Hours” (1985), but the Scorsese film was a comedy, and “Good Time” is anything but.
I love it when I’m proven wrong about a performer, and that person reveals depths of skill that I never imagined was there. It happened to me with Kristen Stewart with “Clouds of Sils Maria” and now with Robert Pattinson with “Good Time.” And I will say about him what I said about Stewart back then — I can’t wait to see what he does next.
GRADE: B+
