BAD BEHAVIOUR

BAD BEHAVIOUR (Directed by Les Blair, Starring Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Philip Jackson, Phil Daniels)

The mid-life crises and marital unease of a middle class London Irish couple might seem better suited to TV drama or situation comedy than the cinema. Yet, once in the thrall of this delicious ensemble you are unlikely to object. They may behave badly, but they are good company.

Although largely improvised, Bad Behaviour is not fired with the desperate manic energy of Whose Line Is It Anyway. Director Les Blair has worked as editor and producer with Mike Leigh, and he has adopted Leigh's working approach - as well as some of his regular actors - allowing his talented cast to shape their own characters and deal with the hurdles his basic script presents in their own way. Shot with a downbeat cine-verite style that at times verges on the amateurish, the result is closer to the rhythms of life than the cinematic and theatrical conventions of drama and resolution.

Belfast man Stephen Rea and Dubliner Sinead Cusack are a downwardly mobile couple living in London's Kentish town, whose lives are complicated by an unscrupulous developer (Philip Jackson), a pair of dim cockney twin builders (Phil Daniels and, er, Phil Daniels) and an increasingly self-indulgent single mother (Clare Higgins). And that's about it. Things get complicated and not much is resolved but the many pleasures of Bad Behaviour are in the margins, acutely observed performances and incidental touches of off-beat wit.

Unlike his mentor, whose films - notably High Hopes and Life Is Sweet - are filled with caricatures of the worst in human nature, Blair appears to find something worthwhile in the human condition. Bad Behaviour is what a Mike Leigh film would be like if Leigh actually liked people. And few are more likeable than Stephen Rea's rumpled, dis-illusioned idealist.

Although everyone acquits themselves honourably, it is Rea who carries much of the weight and most of the slack of Blair's unfocussed drama on his rounded shoulders. After the unexpected success of The Crying Game, Rea is a certifiable star, and although Bad Behaviour is unlikely to rocket him to new heights it confirms his wry appeal. "He makes me laugh," observes Sinead Cusack, pondering the secret of their marriage. Irish audiences are certain to agree.