User Reviews

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.

Pretty good movie. More aesthetically pleasing than psychologically intricate. I liked the original soundtrack and creative filming. Gave me a strange feeling at the end. Had some funny parts. Worth watching, but personally I don't think I'd watch it again.

It's not the kind of movie you will love. It's the kind of movie that will either intrigue you and grab you, or bore/disappoint you. It's the kind of movie that ends too soon and leaves you feeling unsatisfied when the credits come on.

What I liked about it was the uniqueness, the intensity. These qualities compensated for lack of interesting story line.

I found good time max to be a very enjoyable movie. Although it may have been very ominous at times I think there is something very glamorous in this portrayal of self destruction. It was an audacious attempt at the triple threat( write, star in, and direct) which I believe paid off and is worthy of a good review. James Franco plays a genius whos addiction to drugs prevents him from making the most of his abilities and doing something useful with his life. He makes the role of callous, self absorbed drug abuser seem exuberant and his character is oozing with charisma. His older brother is also a genius however it seems his work ethic and outlook on life is somewhat different to max's. This movie takes us on an adventure involving max's drug fuelled rampage and everyone else is just along for the ride. I think this movie only touches on one profound question... when does the party end? everything else was just far-fetched and entertaining. If you take this movie for what it is, a great effort at something that has been done one hundred times before, not to be taken too seriously, you will enjoy.

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.

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.

The movie is about two brothers that are supposed to be alike - but are not in any way expect for being smart - one is a surgeon and they other is able to write a computer code. Geniuses as they like to call themselves which sounds very exaggerated if you compare it to personal characteristics can you perceive from the material of the title.

I honestly didn't like the style of the movie. I believe that anxiety, confusion and deep blues it brings are there for a purpose, but what I don't get is why there is so much of it. The movie is cheap on scenes and tells the story basically with no human aspect in it at all. It gives the comic book like experience. However it's visually numbing the viewer, it somehow brings him inside the blues with brief dialogs, monotonic scenes, dynamic cut, music and abrupt noises.

The movie's storyline is very simple, most of what's going on is being dramatically pictured for long minutes, mostly in confusing delirium simulating effects of drug use and dynamic cuts.

I will say openly that this movie didn't meet my expetations a tiny bit.

It could be instructive to have one of your nerdy genius friends develop an algorithm to determine the relationship between the amount of screen time given to shots from a character's video camera in relation to the erosion and downfall of the quality of a movie.

It is a lazy, cheap, modern trend that has added nothing to the enjoyment or purpose of a film. It could even be responsible for the increase in the sale of headache remedies. Please, stop, no more.

The "auteur" of this film also uses another of the most irritating involvements in modern screen history. The presentation, for all of us to enjoy, the purging of bodily fluids, vomiting, urination, defecation, drooling, nose running. It makes one sick just to write about it let alone see it in high-definition. Name one movie that showing these eliminations of waste, that wasn't a waste, that actually made a point and developed the plot or was essential viewing for the audience.

So, having violated two of the most egregious and useless modern mechanisms of self-conscious exploitations to the max and making us endure, once again, another attempt at a profound "personal picture", one can not help but to say, it would have been better to hold it in.

Really the tale of two cocky brothers and their respective falls from grace (via drug addiction) and later redemption. One brother, a self-proclaimed genius played by James Franco is your typical sensitive but intelligent man-child. The other brother is a hard-working future doctor who becomes less judgmental as he himself falls prey to addiction while dealing with the stress of living up to his family's expectations for both children. Not too heavy handed as drug fables are want to be, and all in all a pretty realistic sketch of the family dynamics that drug problems bring about. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in such character studies and commend James Franco for his efforts in what was obviously a labor of love.

Nothing to see here folks. So I sat through the forst 40 minutes waiting for the movie to show me why James Franco is so well liked and as it turns out there are no characters whatsoever to like or relate to. I guess this was an attempt at comedy but at the 40 minute mark ,I still hadn't found a laugh. Was there a bit of Fear And Loathing in there? Perhaps, but it to be honest this is one boring movie. I don't know how the Director pegged the audience but I couldn't identify with anything and I lived through the drug culture. I can't saythe characters were miscast because the entire thing should have never been brought to the table. What's there to like?

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.

A simple and predictable film and the most childish I have ever seen, it was hard to believe. I think Franco needs some direction. I still can't quite believe how crap this is, what a waste.

I think the majority of the people seem not the get the right idea about the movie, at least that's my opinion. I am not sure it's a movie about drug abuse; rather it's a movie about the way of thinking of those genius brothers, drugs are side effects, something marginal. Again, it's not a commercial movie that you see every day and if the author wanted that, he definitely failed, as most people think it's one of the many drug related movies. I, however, think something else is the case. As in many movies portraying different cultures, audience usually fully understands movies portraying their own culture, i.e. something they've grown up with and are quite familiar with. This movie is to show what those "genius" people very often think and what problems they face. The reason why they act like this is because they are bored out of their minds :) They have to meet people who do mediocre things and accept those things as if they are launching space shuttles on daily basis. They start a fairly hard job and excel in no time. They feel like- I went to work, did nothing, still did twice as better as the guys around me when they were all over their projects, what should I do now with my free time. And what's even more boring? When you can start predicting behavior not because you're psychologist, but instead because you have seen this pattern in the past. So, for them, from one side it's a non challenging job, which is also fairly boring sometimes, and from another they start to figure out people's behavior. It's a recipe for big big boredom. And the dumbest things are usually done to get out of this state. They guy earlier who mentioned that their biggest problem is that they are trying to figure out life in terms of logic (math describes logic), while life is not really a logical thing, is actually absolutely right.

Twin brothers, they're BOTH doctors in Dead Ringers though. One is a bit of a rebel, addicted to drugs, the other one just wants to be a doctor and go about his day. Then the gentler twin becomes addicted to drugs, they both go crazy, weird surgeries happen, the end. I haven't seen this movie, but from the plot summaries I've read this sounds pretty damn spot on. Do they both fall in love with the same woman in this movie too? Then that'd be THREE, count em THREE movies I know of where twin brothers fall in love with the same woman. It's an interesting idea for sure, but come on. Did both of the twins in Twin Fall Idaho love the girl? I don't remember now. They were Siamese twins anyway.

When i read the short synopsis of the movie i thou it be one of those movies that its just all about drug dealing some dud the that wouldn't't be able to get out and stuff like that, but i was wrong.

James Franco did an excellent job on this. now seeing this on 2011 after seeing all his latest movies i think that this film that he wrote and directed, made him a perfect candidate on pineapple express. But i wouldn't put that on stone since they were launched on the same year, so who knows what was first.

Short end story . this movie makes u things twice before u do them. things don't end just like u think they gonna end and u will like it.