Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A story set in the 90s and in the outskirts of Rome to Ostia. A world where money, luxury cars, night clubs, cocaine and synthetic drugs are easy to run. A world in which Vittorio and Cesare, in their early twenties, act in search of their success.
Don't Be Bad is a gritty Italian crime-drama rooted in the Roman periphery drug scene of the 1990s, drawing inevitable comparisons to Trainspotting and local predecessors. The acting is its standout quality — Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi deliver raw, charismatic performances that elevate the material considerably and earned widespread praise. The plot follows a fairly familiar rise-and-fall arc through the drug trade, competently executed but not especially surprising in its beats. Cinematography captures the bleakness and neon-tinged hedonism of the era adequately without being visually distinctive. Novelty is moderate — while it has a strong sense of place and authentic Roman voice, it treads well-worn genre ground. The ending is emotionally resonant but follows the expected trajectory of the genre.