Much like the little girl with the curl in the well-known rhyme, when this film is good, it’s very good. But when it’s bad it’s … well, the original poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says “horrid,” but Bad Behaviour is more very awkward and self-indulgent. But the good largely outweighs the “oof” and this is a first feature for writer-director-co-star Alice Englert who should be applauded for taking interesting if not always successful risks.
At least Englert made a safe bet by casting Jennifer Connelly in the lead, for one of her best roles for many years. Here she plays Lucy who, like Connelly herself, was once a child star but is now filled with rage and bitterness with her parents, her (never seen) ex-husband – and even her grown daughter Dylan (Englert) who is working as a stunt double in New Zealand when the story begins. Lucy calls Dylan from Oregon where she’s just about to check into a retreat to say she’ll be incommunicado for a while, but Dylan is distracted and the line is bad.
