Human Nature

For a movie with so many high-falutin' ideas, "Human Nature" has an alarming number of lowbrow moments. That in spite of the fact that it comes from a screenwriter — "Being John Malkovich" scribe Charlie Kaufman — who you'd think would be "above" stooping to such depths as cheap sexual humor.

In fact, with Kaufman as its creative force, there are some who are bound to have high expectations from this only sporadically amusing comedy. And they're bound to be disappointed.

Sure, the film has some moments of "Malkovich"-like weirdness. Unfortunately, only a few of them are genuinely inspired or worth more than a chuckle. The rest are delivered with a hamfisted lack of subtlety and a rather off-putting smugness.

Patricia Arquette stars as Lila Jute, a popular nature writer with an unfortunate amount of body hair. Of late, Lila has been feeling her biological imperative, so she's begun shaving her body and getting electrolysis in an attempt to find a mate.

And she thinks she's found a winner in Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins), an animal-behavior researcher with sexual inadequacy problems. She even helps him with his new subject, Puff (Rhys Ifans), a man who was found living in the wild as an ape.

The etiquette-conscious Nathan is trying to teach Puff how to speak, as well as how to become a gentleman. But the project — and his life — starts going awry when he discovers Lila's "hairy" little secret, and he starts seeking solace with his beautiful assistant (Miranda Otto).

Meanwhile, Lila starts having some serious reservations about "civilizing" Puff, who appears to have been happier in a more natural environment.

The film's nature-vs.-nurture quandaries have been handled more effectively in other films, and director Michel Gondry (a music-video veteran) strains to make things too wacky for their own good.

But in addition to the uneven material, the film's real problem is Arquette, one of the least-interesting actresses working in movies today. (She brings no perceptible warmth to the character of Lila.)

As for Robbins, he looks extremely uncomfortable (not too surprising, considering some of the cheap jokes made at his character's expense). In fact, only Ifans really registers here, though much of his character's actions are degrading.

"Human Nature" is rated R for full female and male nudity, simulated sex and sex acts (done for laughs), occasional use of strong, sexually related profanity, crude sexual humor and references, violence (shock treatment) and brief gore. Running time: 92 minutes.

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