THE SHAPE OF THINGS

What, exactly, is the audience to make of Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), the hateful yet sexy grad student who’s the focal point of Neil LaBute’s latest misanthropic meat grinder? An imperious art-theory major, Evelyn accepts a date with dorky Adam (Paul Rudd), then subjects him to an identity makeover: new haircut, new clothes, new nose. There’s some skillfully intense dialogue, but the movie is didactic. LaBute has come to declare the death of love, and damned if he’ll let any human beings get in the way of his thesis.