Given that writer Charlie Kaufman and producer Spike Jonze (they wrote and directed Being John Malkovich, respectively) are involved, you’d think we’d have a winner here. But this ambitious, uneven comedy is mishandled by director Michael Gondry (whose previous work is mostly in music video), promising things it can’t deliver.

Rhys Ifans (of Notting Hill fame) is a reformed "wild man" named Puff who’s on trial for murder. He tells his story, beginning with his liaison with Lila, an abnormally hairy woman (played by, of course, smooth, blonde Patricia Arquette) who also has chosen a life in the woods. Their victim, Dr. Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins), was Lila’s lover and Puff’s rehabilitator. His experiments teaching table manners to mice led him to try to civilize Puff, squelching Puff’s sexuality with electroshock treatments and turning him into a genteel twit in a smoking jacket who appreciates opera. Miranda Otto plays Nathan’s sexy, devious French assistant, who seduces Puff away from Lila; Rosie Perez performs Lila’s electrolysis. The many messages here are heavy-handed and often contradictory: beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what’s wild can never be tamed, you can/can’t go home again, and purity is easily corrupted. The actors try their hardest, and there are some very funny moments, but this story is ultimately shallow, vulgar, and unsatisfying.