Writer-director Neil LaBute adapted this dark and twisted love story about manipulation and betrayal from a theatre production, using the same cast.

A young English student on a US campus Adam (Rudd) meets a young art student Evelyn (Weisz) in a museum. He is earning extra money as a guard, she is about to deface a statue. Adam takes a shine to Evelyn, and she gives him her number, spray-painted on the inside of his jacket.

Evelyn goes out with the shy introverted Adam, and meets his friends Jenny (Moll) and Philip (Weller). As Adam comes out of his shell with Evelyn the story revolves around who is manipulating who. At the same time Jenny is confiding in Adam that Philip may be cheating on her. She also fancies Adam, especially when she sees him with another woman.

LaBute has come public in explaining that when he wrote and directed his first film In the company of Men which showed how carnal and callous the male psyche can be towards women and romance in the workplace, he also wanted to write a revenge film, in which a woman would have the upper hand in a relationship with a man. The Shape of Things is that project.

Many may feel that The Shape of Things depends on your views of manipulation in a relationship. Some may see Adam's transformation as something he happily goes along with and that even if betrayal comes into the equation, Adam has still gained from what has happened, in a way in which the female character central to In the company of Men crucially cannot.

That said, LaBute has got a great cast delivering another classy script of his, and for many, the constant twists in the dialogue will be a delight. The characters are well-drawn, from Weisz's feisty and enigmatic art student to Weller's abrasive and egotistically domineering friend of Adam's.

This is another satisfying LaBute debate movie that is sure to have those that see it talking late into the night afterwards about the issues that it raises. That, one suspects, was LaBute's goal in making the 'difference between the sexes' film in the first place.