Review

A totally gonzo if somewhat uneven comedy of evolution, libido and table manners. Robbins is a stiff, socially comatose scientist obsessed with teaching dining etiquette to apes. Arquette is his wife and assistant, secretly accursed with a runaway follicle condition. Ifans is their newest subject, a man who was raised in the wilderness and who's now their captive in the name of scientific research. Charlie Kaufman's unconventional screenplay shoots off in several wildly tangential directions — and the ending just sort of falls apart (just as in Being John Malkovich) — but his quirky commentary on instinct versus conditioning offers enough moments of bizarre levity and wry introspection to make up for its increasingly loosey-goosey narrative. Rookie director Gondry, graduating to features from music videos, demonstrates a distinctive visual style that would eventually serve him better in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

 -- Steven D. Segal