Jim Davis is an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates. His best friend is pressured by his girlfriend Sylvia to find a job, but Jim is more interested in hanging out and making cash from small heists, while trying to get a law enforcement job so he can marry his Mexican girlfriend.
Ayer makes his directing debut with Harsh Times, which is so relentlessly grim that it occasionally goes over the top and invites derision.
– John Hartl,
Seattle Times,
10 Nov 2006
rotten:
Endless scenes of the two guys riding along, venting and cursing and chugging beers play like acting-class exercises, badly written ones at that.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
10 Nov 2006
rotten:
Harsh Times is so into its own nihilism, it sometimes forgets the humanity beneath the hurt.
– Peter Howell,
Toronto Star,
10 Nov 2006
rotten:
Jim is such a psycho and Mike is such a patsy, we don't care about these guys. We've seen dozens of more interesting head cases in dozens of smarter films.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
13 Nov 2006
rotten:
Harsh Times is an hour-by-hour diary of two crazy, unreliable, irresponsible dudes trying to find a way to fit into the same society they hate, facing one hurdle after another until they appear to butcher half of Los Angeles.