Good Time Max

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Directed, co-written and starring James Franco, Good Time Max is about two brothers Max and Adam (Franco and Matt Bell) who are geniuses. Adam is training to be a doctor and is very focused on his career. But Max is immature and gets involved with the drug world. After a drug deal goes bad, Max plans to flee New York and go to California. Convincing Adam to go with him, the brothers set out for a new life.

Though the acting is decent, it's a clichéd movie that has been done many times before. It's the typical man gets involved with drugs, tries to quit, then somehow finds his way back into them. Don't worry, I'm not giving away spoilers, because a lot of that happens early in the film.

A worthy effort for James Franco, I can't imagine it being easy to direct, write, and star in a film, so he made a good attempt. But I wish the story was better, it's just way too familiar.

This film tells the story of two genius brothers, one grows up to become a surgeon, the other becomes a drug dealer.

I guess it's quite common for two brothers to diverge on their paths and throwing their lives away - at least in films anyway. The story is told in a linear fashion, it plainly tells the effects occurring in their lives. Max is the messed I up one, while Adam is the high flier. However, they are both unsympathetic, and I don't find myself caring for them. Towards the end, I was confused as to what the video tape contains that leads to the character's downfall. Hence, I was left with the feeling of confusion and apathy towards the characters. That being said, "Good Time Max" is a better effort than the other films directed by James Franco.

Good Time Max (James Franco) reminds me a lot of myself; we both play the boisterous younger brother, thirsty for reckless living, wasting honest resources on temporal thrills and instant pleasure, easily distracted. Life is, of course, just one great big party! Right? However, Max and I also relate to the difficulty of coping with the folly of excessive living. We know hard times, family drama, and often times are out of money. We deal with the guilt and awkwardness of the lesson(s) learned and many times vow never again to be such a childish adult. We both know addiction and sobriety, which means that we also know how it feels to relapse and follow through with the entire cycle, the drama and so forth, once again.

My oldest brother, now a doctor of microbiology, once thought that I was smarter than him because he never saw me do homework or study as a kid.

Making personal choices today will inevitably, inadvertently and incidentally affect ones immediate future, yet many times yielding unfavourable results. In other words: choose wisely.

Great low-budget, independent project, indeed! Viewing the practical next-door characters in an authentic & emotionally moving script is considered good time spent for this dramedy gem.

This movie never would have seen the light of day without an A lister to head the cast as actor, writer and director. Poorly executed on every level. 1) These guys are supposed to be geniuses, but how do we know? Easy, Franco/Max reminds us of it throughout the film ("I'm a genius") and he solved a fairly easy math problem (easy for anyone who is good at math), and his brother is a surgeon. None of that really works and it makes all the other observations about how a genius deals with being a genius hollow an empty. 2) Max is the life of the party and the guy everyone likes yet the movie shows someone who is just obnoxious, cocky and annoying to watch. 3) The drug scenes dont offer anything insightful or new whereas a movie like Requiem for a Dream shows the upside and the down side of extreme drug use. Anyone who has done meth knows that if you are up for 3 days, you are down for 3 days. And the doctor using prescription drugs seems like they took that right out of Requiem with the mom and her diet pills. 4) The characters are mostly cliches, and poorly acted. It plays like amateur hour. Even Franco seems like he's reaching. And to be honest, he works best in dumb comedies (though I thought he was good in 11 23 63) 5) This movie would have worked better as a satire. Or a meth version of Pineapple Express. But it doesnt know what it wants to be and ends up falling flat on all sides as it tries to go for a deeper meaning.

You gather the plot: Two brothers, one studious decent and hardworking, the smarter one being a rebel etc etc. From the various movies throughout the decades this Cain & Abel-ish by-play has been done over and over again. (James Dean, Brad Pitt are two actors that spring to mind). This movie has none of the complexity or character development of East of Eden or A River Runs Through It or Legends of the Fall and it is infinitely more forgettable.

I see the various points the movie is trying to make and yes, it does make you stop and think about how pointless life can be and the merits of hard work and the merits and disadvantages of various drugs, but ultimately why bother ?

The movie is a teensy bit poignant, somewhat artsy, the character acting is good and the movie manages to convey a seedy, life through a Handycam feel. I was vaguely bored throughout with this character study, wondering if anything would happen and after a fashion maybe it did maybe it didn't (I wouldn't want to add a spoiler!), but really - who cares ?

There are far better movies around in hundreds of different genres, I feel like I wasted the evening. If I were to use a single word to review this movie, I would choose the word 'dull'.

You may like it, but I found it rather boring from start to finish.