Bad Manners

Another entry in the couples-behaving-badly trend that seems prevalent in this festival is Jonathan Kaufer's Bad Manners, a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? riff that comes off as stagy and schematic despite taut performances. Matt (Saul Rubinek), a portly musicologist, and his too-pretty-and-young-for-him girlfriend, Kim (Caroleen Feeney), visit -- for no apparent reason other than to inject strife into their relationship -- Matt's former girlfriend Nancy (Bonnie Bedelia) and her starch, academic husband, Wes (David Strathairn). Matt and Kim have been using computer research to prove that a fundamental, perhaps divine order lies behind even the most random collection of musical tones, but their own lives readily unravel when confronted by such contrivances as a missing $50 bill. After an evening of deceit, double entendres, revelations, and betrayals, the following morning brings resolution but no clarity -- Bad Manners could use a little more randomness itself to ring true. Screens at the Copley Place Saturday the 13th at 6, 8, and 10 p.m. and Sunday the 14th at 11:45 a.m. and 1:45 and 3:45 p.m.

-- Peter Keough

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