With “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,” Newton-born actor John Krasinski (“The Office,” “Leatherheads”) pays sincere tribute to the late author David Foster Wallace.

But the result is a mixed bag, portraying men as a bunch of rats, dogs, swine and other members of the animal kingdom.

The film, adapted by Krasinski from a 1999 short story by Wallace, the Kurt Cobain of alt-lit, asks the flip side of Freud’s famous query - “What do women want?” - and centers upon ambitious grad student Sara Quinn (Julianne Nicholson), whose thesis involves candid interviews with various men.

What we learn about the male of the species is hardly earth-shattering or often even very interesting, I’m afraid.

One man labeled Subject No. 14 (Ben Shenkman of “Angels in America”) confesses to involuntarily shouting out a certain phrase when he reaches sexual climax. Another interviewee (Bobby Cannavale) explains how he uses his disabiliity, a missing right arm, to get women to have sex with him.

And on it goes. At one point we are asked to ponder the difference between the “documentary” and the “documentor.”

Krasinski himself appears as a man who betrays Sara with a pretty “granola-cruncher” and may be the inspiration for her crusade. English actor Dominic Cooper plays a student moonlighting as a waiter, who may or may not have a very dark past.

As a director, Krasinski can be confounding. He cuts within shots, making us wonder if it’s because Wallace’s flights of funny-profane-banal dialogue were too hard for the actors to get through in one go.

Whatever the case, it’s distracting, and the self-consciously articulate style (“ensouled”?) can sound phony. At various points you may also want to add the words “dumb” and “boring” between “hideous” and “men” in the title.

Not rated. At the Kendall Square Cinema.

(In addition to hideous men, “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” contains profanity.)