American Perfekt (1997)

45% of users liked it
(692 ratings)

In this noir-influenced road movie, Jake (Robert Forster) is a criminal psychiatrist who has come to the conclusion that our lives are dictated primarily by chance, and has given himself over to this notion by making most of his decision by the flip of a coin. Sandra (Amanda Plummer) is a neurotic… More In this noir-influenced road movie, Jake (Robert Forster) is a criminal psychiatrist who has come to the conclusion that our lives are dictated primarily by chance, and has given himself over to this notion by making most of his decision by the flip of a coin. Sandra (Amanda Plummer) is a neurotic woman on her way to pick up her younger sister, a teenage delinquent named Alice (Fairuza Balk) when she's run off the road and left stranded by a madman named Santini (David Thewlis). When Jake happens by and Sandra asks him for help, Sandra is lucky at first: she wins the coin toss, and he elects to help her rather than kill her. When they have to make a stop, Sandra sees Santini's car parked by the side of the road; Santini catches Sandra as she tries to rip off some money that he's stashed in the car, and though she gets away, Santini isn't done with her yet. Director Paul Chart probably didn't have much trouble securing Amanda Plummer for the role of Alice: Chart and Plummer were married in 1994. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Paul Chart
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Aug 11, 1997 Wide
On DVD: May 31, 2005

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The film fell too quickly into the serial-killer mode and lost the edge it never had but always wanted.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
[American Perfekt] wants to get by on quirkiness and so-called charm alone, and it just doesn't work.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Mark W

This was one of those crime thrillers that came along in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's emergence and tried to emulate his style for 'cool' violence. The only thing this has in common with Q.T. though, is Pulp Fiction's Amanda Plummer and Jackie Brown's… More
This was one of those crime thrillers that came along in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's emergence and tried to emulate his style for 'cool' violence. The only thing this has in common with Q.T. though, is Pulp Fiction's Amanda Plummer and Jackie Brown's Robert Forster in the cast. The rest pales in comparison, and frankly, I don't see much of a resemblance. A young woman (Faruza Balk) travelling through the desert on her way to meet her sister (Plummer) crosses paths with a psychotic physician (Forster) who decides his actions on the flip of a coin. When I seen this years ago, I was thoroughly entertained and thought it was a highly original and exciting film. On second viewing, it doesn't quite stand up to scrutiny. The originality I thought it once had is basically taken from novelist Luke Reinhart's "The Dice Man". What is an intriguing premise is played out with such a lack of urgency that it becomes very tedious, very quickly. It picks up when Fairuza Balk arrives in town though and Forster's psycho pychologist begins to reveal himself. However, he's still a little tepid and despite a decent performance, he's not nearly menacing enough. There are a few things worthy of admiration but it's the pacing that's all wrong, letting down a decent cast and missing an opportunity for genuine thrills. A half baked psychological thriller that aims high but ultimately falls hard from it's intended target.
Daniel P

This went straight to DVD in the US, which is not a good sign, but it's a very decent, if odd, Tarantino-esque film with some great performances by Fairuza Balk and Robert Forster. Worth a look...