THE SHAPE OF THINGS -------------------
'Moralists have no place in an art gallery.' Han Suyin
Adam (Paul Rudd, "The Cider House Rules") is a sweet nebbish, working his way through school. About to go off shift as a guard at Mercy College's art museum, Adam discovers Evelyn (Rachel Weisz, "About a Boy") suspiciously regarding the statue of a male nude from the wrong side of the velvet rope. Adam's attempts to oust Evelyn are ineffectual and she wins him over to her cause - to spray paint back the genitals a prudish community have obscured on the original with a cement fig leaf. As Evelyn points out, they just don't like "The Shape of Things."
Writer/director Neil Labute returns to his nasty habits after a foray into romance ("Possession") with this female counterpart to his breakthrough film, "In the Company of Men," but his return to his roots feels like a retread. There are no surprises to be had in "The Shape of Things," which telegraphs its twist ending in its first ten minutes.
Once Adam's surprised himself by successfully getting Evelyn out on a date (she spray paints her number on the lining of his beloved corduroy jacket), his next impulse is to show her off to his best friend Philip (Frederick Weller, "The Business of Strangers") and his fiance Jenny (Gretchen Mol, "Rounders"). They're amazed at her unconventionality and Philip's sudden weight loss and hipper hairstyle. Philip makes it known that he won Jenny over Adam, who was too timid to act, in a macho counterstrike which makes Adam and Jenny uncomfortable but merely interests Evelyn. When conversation turns to the recent vandalism at the museum, though, the evening turns disastrous with Evelyn stomping out after a heated exchange with Philip.
Evelyn's influence continues to be displayed in Adam as his glasses are replaced by contacts and his wardrobe becomes stylish. Philip is aghast but Jenny, who is clearly more suited to Adam, is attracted. Evelyn forces a confrontation which shatters the group dynamic, then reassembles them for her surprising graduate art thesis exhibit.
Labute could be commenting upon his own work with his central theme of cruelty excused by the production of art, but his argument here is unconvincing because there is no evidence of art in his penultimate scene. Labute hasn't rid his film adaptation of his Broadway play of its staginess, particularly in his failure to reign in Rudd's playing to the rafters. Evelyn's dialogue drips more symbolic portent than naturalism and the film's forward jumps in time feel like breaks between acts. Sets and exterior locations are claustrophobic and cinematography (James L. Carter, "Tuck Everlasting") follows suit. The dandy soundtrack consists of nicely chosen Elvis Costello songs, whose lyrics are stronger than the action they comment upon.
Paul Rudd's Adam is a sweet character but he blunts his believability by ladling on the actorly ticks too heavily. Weisz, whose Evelyn is at turns confrontational and
condescendingly disingenuous ('A Cosmo test? Now you're getting scientific on me.'), is more a device than a character, a sociopathic artist the writer invests with an understanding of human nature. Better are Gretchen Mol, the actress who never became the 'It girl' a Vanity Fair cover article pronounced, and Frederick Weller, both reprising their roles from the play (as are Weisz and Rudd). Mol brings a simple sweetness to Jenny while Weller does a pitch perfect turn on the snide frat boy who likes his friends better unequal to his own cool.
Labute gives us an intriguing moment in the movie's final moments. Adam confronts Evelyn in a manner directly opposite that of the opening scene and Evelyn relents slightly, giving Adam the gift of the truth of something she once whispered to him. But what does this mean? The possibility is interesting, but in the end it's a bluff.
C
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