Review of The Shape of Things (2003) by Joe L — 21 Dec 2007

The cruelest art form.

When I sat down to watch this I something completely different in mind...So I was a little bit surprised when I saw this...I thought it was going to be a romantic comedy...And while it's a comedy about romance, it's still pretty dramatic and not the standard romantic comedy formula...Is that good, or is that bad?

The Story: A dorky, shy guy, Adam, meets and falls in love with an outgoing "artist", Evelyn. From there on, his life is turned around. Through manipulation and seduction, she transforms him into someone completely different, some changes for the better, and some changes not so much for the better, she takes control of his life in every possible way. You're not going to be too impressed with amazing cinematography here, never much going on in any scene, and the camera for the most part is always in the same position. This film or more or less just a series of conversations. Adam talking to eve, Adam talking to one of his friends, Adam talking to Eve, Eve talking to Adams Friends...In a way, this works, it gets you closer to the characters, you're going to love Adam and feel happy for him at times, and feel sorry for him at times, and you're more than likely going to hate Evelyn...But what it really comes down to is that this is just a bunch of conversations, one after another, after another, after another, and so on.

The Cast: Rachel Wiesz, Paul Rudd...There's two others, but these two are the two that make the movie. Paul Rudd of course plays the dorky shy guy. He plays it with a great, and almost over-blown child like quality. He's perfect for the part, and genuinely loveable. Rachel Wiesz does great here, she's perfectly evil. I actually thought she was better in this movie than she was in Runaway Jury (check the June archives). These two are great characters played by great actors, you'll remember them for a long time to come.

One to Five Scale: 3.

It's just a bunch of long conversations! The beauty of a film is that you can do so much, show so much, convey so much. This could have been powerfull if it didn't look like a stiff translation of a semi-pretentious play.

Tyler.