Review of Human Nature (2001) by Nate Z — 24 Feb 2006

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman jumped on to Hollywood?s A-list when his feature debut ?Being John Malkovich? was unleashed in 1999. ?Malkovich? was a brilliant original satire on identity, be it celebrity or sexual, and was filled with riotous humor but also blended beautifully with a rich story that bordered on genius that longer it went. Now Kaufman tries his hand expounding at the meaning of civilization versus animal instinct in ?Human Nature?. As one character tells another, ?Just remember, don?t do whatever your body is telling you to do and you?ll be fine.?[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Lila (Patricia Arquette) is a woman burdened with excessive body hair ever since she was old enough for a training bra (with the younger version played by Disney?s Lizzie McGuire). Lila feels ashamed by her body and morbidly humiliated. She runs away to the forest to enjoy a life free from the critical eyes of other men. Here she can commune with nature and feel that she belongs.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Nathan (Tim Robbins) is an anal retentive scientist obsessed with etiquette. As a young boy Nathan was sent to his room for picking the wrong fork to eat his meal with. He is now trying his best to teach mice table manners so he can prove that if etiquette can be taught to animals it can be ingrained toward humanity.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Lila and Nathan become lovers when she ventures back into the city, eliminating her body hair for now, because of something infinitely in human nature ? hormones. The two of them find a form of content, as neither had known the intimate touch of another human being.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]?Puff? (Rhys Ifans) is a grown man living his life in the woods convinced by his father that he is an ape. One day while walking through the woods Nathan and Lila discover the ape-man and have differing opinions on what should be done with him. Nathan is convinced that he should be brought into civilization and be taught the rules, etiquette and things that make us ?human.? It would also be his greatest experiment. Lila feels that he should maintain his freedom and live as he does in nature, how he feels he should.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]What follows is a bizarre love triangle over the reeducation of ?Puff,? as Nathan?s slinky French assistant Gabrielle (Miranda Otto) names him. Lila is torn over the treatment of Puff and also her own society induced shame of her abundant amount of body hair. Nathan feels like he is saving Puff from his wayward primal urges, as he himself becomes a victim of them when he starts having an affair with Gabrielle. Puff, as he tells a congressional committee, was playing their game so he could find some action and ?get a piece of that.?[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Kaufman has written a movie in the same vein as ?Being John Malkovich? but missing the pathos and sadly, the humor. ?Human Nature? tries too hard to be funny and isn?t nearly as funny as it thinks it is. Many quirky elements are thrown out but don?t have the same sticking power as Kaufman?s previous film. It?s a fine line between being quirky just for quirky?s sake (like the atrocious ?Gummo?) and turning quirky into something fantastic (like ?Rushmore? or ?Raising Arizona?). ?Human Nature? is too quirky for its own good without having the balance of substance to enhance the weirdness further. There are many interesting parts to this story but as a whole they don?t ever seriously gel.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Debut director Michel Gondry cut his teeth in the realm of MTV making surreal videos for Bjork and others (including the new Lego animated one for The White Stripes). He also has done numerous commercials, most infamously the creepy-as-all-hell singing navels Levi ad. Gondry does have a vision, and that vision is ?Copy What Spike Jonze Did As Best As Possible.? Gondry?s direction never really registers, except for some attractive time shifts, but feels more like a rehash of Jonze?s work on, yep you guessed it, ?Being John Malkovich?. Jonze got an Oscar nomination for his film debut; the best thing Gondry could expect to receive is a little more personal style.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Arquette and Robbins do fine jobs in their roles with Arquette given a bit more, dare I say it more, humanity. Her Lila is trapped between knowing what is true to herself and fitting in to a society that tells her that it?s unhealthy and wrong. Ifans has fun with his character and lets it show. The acting in ?Human Nature? is never really the problem.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]While ?Human Nature? is certainly an interesting film (hey it has Arquette singing a song in the buff and Rosie Perez as an electrologist) but the sum of its whole is lacking. It?s unfair to keep comparing it to the earlier ?Malkovich? but the film is trying too hard to emulate what made that movie so successful. ?Human Nature? just doesn?t have the gravity that could turn a quirky film into a brilliant one.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: C+ [/color][/font].