Neil Labute is certainly one of our strongest filmmakers, based
on his convictions that the relationships between men and women in
our culture are based on lies, deceit and folly.
Neil Labute is certainly one of our strongest filmmakers, based on his convictions that the relationships between men and women in our culture are based on lies, deceit and folly.
Love, caring and compassion only occur on the surface in LaBute’s films as facades for the shady characters to get what they want. These difficult themes are present in two of his previous films, the remarkable “In the Company of Men” and “Your Friends and Neighbors.”
They surface again in Labute’s great new film, “The Shape of Things,” ostensibly a romantic comedy about two nerds on a college campus falling in love. Alas, in LaBute’s world, nothing could be further from the truth. Pain, heartbreak and cruelty are only minutes away in any LaBute screenplay concerning the relationships of men and women, which he sees as a hyper-evolved battle of the sexes.
In an opening that would seem in place in any romantic comedy, our two main characters, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and Adam (Paul Rudd), meet. Evelyn’s a student, enjoying her time photographing certain sexy exhibits at a local museum. She tries to get close to one of the nude statues, eventually pushing the rope aside to get a closer look. Upon doing this, Adam, who’s a part-time security guard at the museum, nicely asks Evelyn to move away from the exhibit.
Adam is a student at the local university, where Evelyn is a graduate student, and after their museum meeting decide to start seeing one another.
Fickle to the extreme and embarassed by his nerdiness, Adam allows himself to be manipulated by his new girlfriend, so much so that he tries to fix his aesthetic characteristics, beginning with his weight. He gets thinner, and likes what he sees. Next is his hair, which he has cut into an appealing preppy style. Last, and most disarming, is his nose job, which he tries to pass off as the result of a fight as it heals.
We also meet the other couple in the film, the almost-married Philip (Fred Weller) and Jenny (Gretchen Mol), who are Adam’s most trusted friends.
They provide an alternative concept of a couple in the film, and they are also around to provide laughs and conflicts in what they see in Adam and Evelyn’s relationship, which get stranger as their relationship moves along.
The movie allows its story to unfold through LaBute’s trademark style of using expository diaglogue in conversations between the characters. It is through these conversations that we begin to understand the nature of Evelyn and Adam’s relationship, which starts off cheery and romantic but evolves into something darker and more sinister as the power structure of the relationship develops.
Quick to rush to judgements about their partners, all the characters in “The Shape of Things” use their lover to get what they want in the relationship, and a small degree of that is present in the relationship between Jenny and Philip as well as we get to know them better.
Plot is not super important to LaBute; he would rather put characters into relationship situations and allow them to come to life, and his relationship films play like a darker version of Francois Truffaut, Eric Rhomer and even David Mamet, who’s always been more interested in character than plot.
Labute keeps the reasons for Adam’s makeover a secret for a while, and the audience has to figure out why he has gone to such lengths to remake himself.
Was his self confidence so poor when he met Evelyn that when he becomes her boyfriend he feels like his looks should at least be the equal of the beautiful, almost aesthetically perfect girl? Did he change because someone, perhaps Evelyn, made a judgement of one or more of his features?
These questions make the characterizations and story terrific fun to follow, as we watch our fickle hero turn himself into what he wishes he was, not what he truly is: the shy, slightly awkward bookworm who never could find a girl like Evelyn. When he does get together with her, we start to question her intentions almost immediately. Are they in love or is this just a cruel game? Savvy filmgoers will enjoy figuring the film out, as the answers slowly reveal themselves.
“The Shape of Things” is a relationship picture that could only come from the dark mind of Neil Labute and plays with the conventions of what Hollywood sells as romance. In Labute’s world exploring men and women, love is never simple, and it’s never perfect – there always seems to be something on the line.
Weisz and Rudd, as well as Weller and Mol, shine in this ensemble acting piece; there work and conversations seem to have an improvisational feel for them, hightening the reality. It’s a fine piece of work and definitely not for the romantic fluff crowd. If you’re looking for a darker spin on the romance genre, check out “The Shape of Things.” It’s certainly not for the faint of heart.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS. Written and directed by Neil LaBute, based upon his play of the same name. With Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Moll and Fred Weller. Rated R (language and sexual themes), 97 minutes. Now playing at Bay Area theaters.
