Bad Behavior

"Bad Behavior" stars Stephen Rea, last seen as the reluctant terrorist who strikes up an unexpected relationship in "The Crying Game." In "Bad Behavior," Rea plays a small-town planning commissioner who, along with his wife (Sinead Cusack), is beset with work-related and domestic problems.

The focus is equally split between Rea and Cusack, as longtime working-class marrieds, a pair of transplanted Dubliners living in North London. And, to a lesser degree, time is also spent with some of the eccentric relatives and friends who surround them.

There's very little plot here really, as the film chronicles moments in the lives of these people, connecting them one to another in various ways, as Cusack finds herself in the throes of a mid-life crisis and begins the novel she has put off writing for years, and Rea is trying to legalize a trailer site for a group of itinerant Irish Travelers who wish to settle in.

Cusack finds herself spending more time with a single woman friend, which causes Rea a bit of jealousy, and Rea is working with a young female assistant who obviously has eyes for him. But the bottom line here is that these two people love each other. Besides, as Cusack puts it to her friend, "He's the only man who's ever been able to make me laugh." Whatever their problems or disagreements or arguments, they will stay together, watch their kids grow up and ease into old-age as a couple, willingly and happily.

Meanwhile, the characters around them include a despicable wheeler-dealer who tries to take advantage of their friendship; a divorced woman who is having a breakdown; and a hilarious pair of identical twin builders who work at upgrading their bathroom.

The film alternates comfortably between comedy and drama but is at times a bit too low-key, never quite working up any emotional impact. But taken for what it is, this is easygoing, enjoyable stuff, with something to say for middle-class life.

"Bad Behavior" is rated R for some profanity, and there is discreet sex.