I can’t say that I enjoyed it all too much, but as a look at really dumb criminals it has a haywire and intense way about itself that held my attention. In time, I’ve come to staunchly admire it. Good Time is known already as the movie that proves Robert Pattinson, still brushing off the nagging “Twilight” residue years later, can really act. Some reviewers have said Pattinson gives a performance that recalls Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon,” and although Pattinson is no equal to Pacino, the comparison is fair enough. Pattinson as this destined-to-lose-at-some-point criminal is high-wired, agitated, and something of an irrational animal.

A pair of brothers knock off a bank successfully yet the getaway is incompetent, with the one brother who is borderline retarded (Nick Nikas) getting caught. Pattinson spends the entire movie trying to bail him out, and when he cannot raise the bail money, he tries to break bro out of the hospital where he is held in custody. Pattinson’s first incredibly stupid mistake is breaking the wrong person out. Nevertheless, the two knuckleheads pair up. Over the course of one night, the two bungle through New York in a number of incidents that do nothing but draw attention when they should be laying low.

Pattinson should just give up, pack it in and sleep on it. But he’s the type who is compelled to keep trying to quick-fix each lousy mistake, barreling ahead recklessly. The whole movie has a grubby, unkempt look, and the edits are deliberately jumpy while these numbskulls yak loudly trying to make sense of their situation and just looking absolutely fried. In a low-level, slumming way, I appreciated what the movie was trying to do – putting a light on stupid characters who are usually too stupid to deserve their own movie about themselves.

100 Minutes. Rated R.

CRIME STORY / YOUNG ADULTS / WEEKEND VIEWING BLOODLUST

Film Cousins: “Panic in Needle Park” (1971); “Mean Streets” (1973); “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975); “The Lookout” (2007).