Neil LaBute is among the more interesting cinematic talents to emerge these past half-dozen years.
Comment
02/12/08
The Shape of Things (2003)
64 %
Reviews Counted: 132 Fresh: 85 Rotten:47 Average Rating: 6.3/10
Consensus:
LaBute returns to his earlier themes of cruelty in relationships, and the results hit hard.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Synopsis: Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol, and Frederick Weller star in Neil LaBute's adaptation of his own stage play, which also featured all four actors. The film focuses on the unlikely romance between precocious art grad student Evelyn (Weisz) and shy English undergrad Adam (Rudd). As... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol, Frederick Weller
Director: Neil LaBute
Screenwriter: Neil LaBute
Producer: Gail Mutrux, Philip Steuer, Rachel Weisz, Neil LaBute
Screenwriter: Neil LaBute
Producer: Gail Mutrux, Philip Steuer, Rachel Weisz, Neil LaBute
Reviews
The actors all benefit from intimate knowledge of difficult parts, and barbs at modern art and sexual mores do cut through.
04/01/06
Top Critic
There are barbs here to tickle anyone's paranoia, but the callousness isn't illustrative, just exploitative.
02/09/06
Top Critic Top Critic
Rachel Weisz's brilliantly layered performance as Evelyn -- barbed, vehement and oddly sorrowful -- keeps all options open.
01/06/04
Some critics have called the film stolid and stagy. I think the way it sits still and looks hard is just the point, and the key to its effect.
01/04/04
Top Critic
Well-acted and deliberately stagey, this is a controversial, typically misogynistic tale from writer-director Neil LaBute that is certain to divide both critics and audiences alike.
10/26/03
When the players themselves are conceived this superficially, LaBute winds up invalidating his own point.
02/12/08
LaBute gives us a sequence of scathing emotional violence that outdoes anything I've seen this year.
09/23/07
LaBute's observations about our self-destructive obsession with appearances may not be original, but his ability to create articulate, provocative characters is.
07/10/07
Go see The Shape of Things, a peculiarly acted, nasty caper, and decide for yourself whether we are being set up by LaBute with a manipulative device or if he is speaking to our frailties and telling truths.
08/17/06
LaBute returns to familiar territory (albeit with a gender twist) that would have been best left unvisited.
08/04/04
...holds the dubious distinction of being the laziest stage-to-screen transfer I've ever seen.
12/18/03
Provocateur LaBute not only dramatically throws the 'c' word at us in this film, but he also goes to great lengths to show us one.
11/19/03
The commercially minded Nurse Betty aside, it’s Neil LaBute’s weakest work. But even on a bad day, he’s better than most.
10/01/03
The Shape of Things continues that cat-and-mouse game of wits, a kind of rebellion against viewer complacency.
09/16/03
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• The Shape of Things at AskMen
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