Themes: Mind Games, Pygmalion Stories, Self-Destructive Romance
Main Cast: Gretchen Mol, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Frederick Weller
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
After a detour into lighter and more compassionate fare with Nurse Betty and Possession, Neil LaBute returns to the themes of his earlier films with this dark and corrosive look at male-female relationships. Adam (Paul Rudd) is a chubby, bespectacled nebbish of a college student who makes money in his spare time as a security guard at the university's art museum. One evening at work, Adam spies another student preparing to deface a statue -- Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), a beautiful art major who is offended by a fig leaf that's been used to "censor" a statue of a nude male, and is prepared to replace the disguised member with spray paint. Adam can't quite bring himself to kick Evelyn out of the museum, and she responds by giving him her phone number. Adam and Evelyn begin dating, and as she challenges his ideas about art and morality, she begins remaking Adam into the sort of boyfriend she'd prefer. Under her influence, Adam loses weight, gets contact lenses, changes his hairstyle, starts dressing better, and assumes a cooler and more confident personality. Adam's pal Philip (Frederick Weller) notices the changes in his friend and isn't happy with the way Evelyn has been molding Adam to her specifications. Adam and Evelyn have dinner one night with Philip and his fiancée, Jenny (Gretchen Mol), and before long Philip and Evelyn are at each other's throats as Adam and Jenny cower along the sidelines. The tensions between Philip and Evelyn exacerbate uneasiness between Jenny and her husband to be, while at the same time, Jenny and Adam begin to recognize a mutual attraction that's long lurked beneath the surface. The Shape of Things was adapted by LaBute from his stage drama of the same name; a selection of songs by Elvis Costello comprise the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Those who respond to Neil LaBute's distinct voice will savor all of the meaty dialogue in the exchanges between the four characters in The Shape of Things. Having performed the play together on-stage, all of the actors are very comfortable with LaBute's style. The foursome's ease with the characters and the dialogue is evident, helping sell some of the more implausible passages in the story. LaBute has grown steadily as a director. While In the Company of Men felt like the first film that it was, The Shape of Things shows that LaBute understands when to move the camera and how to edit for maximum effectiveness. The static camera that dominated his earliest films seemed to indicate unease with the process of making film images. His confidence both behind the camera and in editing has grown to the point that now, when he keeps the camera in place for an extended period, one senses a purpose for the decision. Because he wants nothing to get in the way of the words, he treats the actors well in the frame. He respects his performers, and they respond by finding reservoirs of repellency which they might not have otherwise tapped. Rachel Weisz is riveting as the manipulative Evelyn, whose motivation provides the type of concluding emotional whammy that LaBute favors. Paul Rudd communicates the emotional and psychological toll Adam's ugly-duckling transformation takes on him, while never abandoning the character's essential goodness (or dorkiness). Although this film is about surfaces and image, the final exchange between Evelyn and Adam hinges emotionally on words -- not just the dialogue the characters exchange, but on words the characters have shared that are kept secret from the audience. That the emotional thrust of the film comes down to the spoken word is proof that LaBute is at heart a playwright. He has learned the shape and the form of filmmaking, but he is a person who responds first and foremost to language. For this reason alone, The Shape of Things is quintessential Neil LaBute. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Christopher Lawrence - Art Director, Fiona Weir - Casting, Lynette Myers - Costume Designer, John Monk Saunders - First Assistant Director, Jonathan Watson - First Assistant Director, Neil LaBute - Director, Joel Plotch - Editor, Tim Bevan - Executive Producer, Eric Fellner - Executive Producer, Elvis Costello - Composer (Music Score), Lynette Myers - Production Designer, James L. Carter - Cinematographer, Gail Mutrux - Producer, Rachel Weisz - Producer, Neil LaBute - Producer, Philip Steuer - Producer, Sondra Thorpe - Set Designer, Richard E. Yawn - Sound/Sound Designer, Neil LaBute - Screenwriter, Neil LaBute - Play Author
The play has been reprised several times with new casts since its original premiere, most recently under the direction of Brian Rhinehart at the Bernie West Theater in New York City.
Central themes in The Shape of Things are questions on the nature of art, psychopathy and intimacy, explorations of love and people's willingness to do things for love[citation needed]. It is set in a small university town in the American Midwest and centers on the lives of four young students who become emotionally and romantically involved with each other.
