The Shape of Things

Controversial director Neil LaBute tweaks our culture's moral compass in his dark comedy The Shape of Things. Dorky museum guard Adam (indie heartthrob Paul Rudd, made to look as dweebish as possible) meets student Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) as she's preparing to deface a classical statue; instead of stopping her, he musters up the courage to ask her out. But soon he finds himself so completely in her thrall that he willingly succumbs to her every want--and she wants him to change his hair, his clothes, his face, even his friends (Frederick Weller and Gretchen Mol). In In the Company of Men, LaBute presented two men cruelly experimenting with a deaf woman's affections; The Shape of Things proposes that women can be just as monstrous. Though LaBute could stand to delve more deeply, this well-acted and cunningly written film will provoke conversation afterwards--and not many movies nowadays can do that. --Bret Fetzer