when robert forster found himself famous again after appearing in " jackie brown " , he immediately signed up for a little film called " american perfekt " . 
this was almost two years ago . 
i waited patiently for the film to be released , but it never was . 
finally , i forgot about it . 
the other day , though , while i was perusing the selection of the local video store , i stumbled upon , you guessed it , " american perfekt " . 
i immediately rented it and with a certain amount of glee , rushed home to view it . 
having now seen the film , i understand why it never saw theatrical release . 
 " american perfekt " is a jumbled mess . 
the storyline is non-existent . 
it took me half the movie just to figure out what was going on . 
and at that point , the only thing i really knew for sure was that the movie was * never * going to introduce a plot of some sort . 
it wants to get by on quirkyness and so-called charm alone , and it just doesn't work . 
robert forster plays a psychiatrist who picks up amanda plummer , and they head off on the road together . 
along the way to no discernable destination , they run into all sorts of kooky and wacky characters . 
i suppose this free-wheeling , no plot style is supposed to give the film an element of danger and excitment , but all it did was make me sleepy . 
i'm all for trying new things within the realm of film , but not at the expense of coherence . 
nothing in this movie makes sense . 
the actions of the characters go unexplained , even when they're truly bizarre . 
i'll give you an example , without giving too much away . 
david thewlis has a part as a drifting con-man . 
at one point , mid-way through the movie , he runs forster and plummer off the road with his car . 
as he passes them , we see that his face is covered in blood . 
do you think we would get an explanation as to what happened to him ? 
you would think so , wouldn't you . 
 " american perfekt " is a waste of time . 
nothing is gained from watching this movie , except maybe a migraine . 
and if you do rent it , don't bother trying to figure out what's going on in the hopes that everything will be resolved by the end . 
this doesn't happen . 
and no explanation is given for the misspelling of " perfect " , either .