Art Garfunkel might be a great songwriter, but as a movie actor, he's one of the most unappealing I've ever seen. He's a college professor in Vienna obsessed with a suicidal young woman he had dated played by Theresa Russell, a femme fatale type actress in the lines of Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner and Madonna playing cold, vixenish women with vapid souls, and it is through him that flashbacks of their relationship before her suicide attempt are dramatized. I couldn't stand listening to either of their voices. It was like listening to breathing on the phone for 2 minutes non-stop, completely airy and pointless. He cooperates with a detective played by Harvey Keitel to find out the motivation for her suicide attempt, and any lengthy scenes of him talking are tedious and downright annoying.

Under the direction of Nicholas Roeg, this is one of those art house films that is certainly not going to appeal to everybody and in many cases is going to drive viewers nuts. People will fidget, get up and go to the refrigerator or bathroom, and come back and try to figure out what it's all about, whether they put it on pause or not. Others will find it art, and be perplexed as to why others don't get it. I guess I'm among the later. If the first half-hour doesn't engage me, then certainly 2 hours will not. I appreciate the attempt for something different, and I can even deal with nonlinear structuring, but the way this is done just took me out of caring. A scene of Russell wheezing in a joking manner on an operating table lead to immediate pushing of the fast-forward button. I'm glad I gave it a shot, but to paraphrase Barry Manilow, this one's not for me.

"Bad Timing" is a film you'll either love or hate. Many of the reviews give it high praise and have very high ratings...but many also were very ambivalent about it. Place me in that second group. This is because in spite of all the nudity and sexuality, it sure left me very, very bored.

The film begins with some doctors working on an overdose patient, Milena (Theresa Russell). Then, throughout the rest of the film, you see a series of flashbacks about her relationship with an American psychology professor, Alex (Art Garfunkel). To call their relationship dysfunctional is clearly an understatement and it seemed very odd to me that a psychology professor would have a relationship with such a disturbed woman. She shows many of the symptoms of a Borderline Personality--with an inability to deal with boredom, compulsive use of sex and intoxicants, an inability to truly love or trust another (often adoring him and then hating him with little warning) and a lot of other behaviors that ultimately result in Alex rightfully calling her "a crazy bitch". Some might enjoy all these histrionics...but after a while it all became incredibly dull...even with all the nudity. Some of this is the choice of music--music that often exacerbated the slow pace and depressing mood of the film. The only time it really got interesting was late in the movie when you learned more about Alex and his actions during her suicide attempt...that WAS a bit of a surprise! Sadly, it took way too long to get there...and by then I was pretty much finished with the film.

Overall, a mildly interesting portrait of some very sick people...her for her many, many self-destructive behaviors and him for putting up with it and his behaviors late in the film. I couldn't see any genius in this one...just a film that left me waiting and hoping it would all end very soon.

By the way, although the film is set in Vienna, no one seemed to be Austrian! Not only were Alex and Milena Americans but so was the detective investigating (Harvey Keitel)....and this casting really didn't make any sense. Nor did it make much sense that the Doctor really didn't speak German very well despite living in Austria!

Nicolas Roeg's "Bad Timing" is bound to be one of the most shocking movies that you'll ever see. This story of a psychotherapist (Art Garfunkel) and his stormy relationship with a free-spirited woman (Theresa Russell) received an X rating upon its initial release. Roeg had previously featured shocking scenes in "Walkabout" and "Don't Look Now". What we have here isn't much more shocking, but it's definitely not for the prudish or fainthearted.

Nonetheless, I do recommend the movie. While it's not the most famous movie ever, I'd say that you should see it at least once (though be prepared to have your mind blown). The nonlinear narrative might confuse you, but keep paying attention.

Also starring Harvey Keitel and Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones movies).