This is How It Goes Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 7:55pm

Broadway.com is Mixed-to-Positive:

"LaBute uses his incendiary subject matter to address a broader topic: the messy, contradictory emotions that fuel hatred. The well-crafted but limited nihilism of his earlier works has given way to a more nuanced, deeply considered grasp of why people hurt one another and themselves. (It bears mentioning that this shift correlated when other people, George C. Wolfe in this case, began directing his plays.) LaBute even leaves the possibility of a happy ending, albeit one precipitated by dishonesty and fallibility."


http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=509167

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 7:57pm

Talkin Broadway is Mixed:

"Those who prefer their plays tied up in nice, tidy packages by the final curtain should be warned that Neil LaBute's latest, This Is How It Goes at the Public Theater, provides no such satisfaction. If that's understandable because the things LaBute focuses on - bigotry of many sorts being the most prominent - have few easy answers, this time the caustic playwright might be too cryptic for his own good."


http://www.talkinbroadway.com/ob/03_27_05.html

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 8:00pm

AP Is Mixed-To Positive (from the rarely used -- for good reason -- Santilli):

"LaBute's no-nonsense, truth-hurts style of writing often manifests itself in ignoble characters who can turn downright cruel with no warning. In "This Is How It Goes," he paints a rather bleak picture of love and marriage and race relations, using biting dialogue that is performed trippingly by a talented cast."

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 8:09pm

Incidentally, I think that these reviews are WAY off, but then again I'm no longer surprised anymore when critics completely miss the point of a show (it happens more often than not).

My review:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=742579#864166

[thebigkrakowski]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 8:48pm

What's way off about all of these reviews? Anything specific? (I haven't seen the show. Just curious.)

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 8:53pm

margo. i'm quite confused because these reviews seem to state the same things as you. so what exactly are you saying? did you think it's better than they did??

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/27/05 at 9:01pm

From Talkin Broadway:

"John Patrick Shanley covers similar ground in his play Doubt, which opens on Broadway this week, but sets forth enough foundational truths to make his unanswerable questions even more compelling. That's what LaBute needs here, but doesn't have; it's impossible to resent Man as being an unreliable narrator, but he knows the final destination. Too often, it seems as if LaBute doesn't, as if he thinks driving around in circles first will make the final destination have more meaning than it might otherwise.

Yes, This Is How It Goes ends correctly, but unsatisfyingly; the journey's enjoyable, but it's too hard to trust LaBute enough to unquestioningly follow where he leads."

I thought the unreliable narrator worked very well as a dramturgical conceit and didn't find that LaBute was "driving around in circles." I didn't find the ending unsatisfying at all and in fact found the overall play much better than DOUBT. That's for starters ...........

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/28/05 at 12:57am

USA Today gives it Three-and-a-half stars:

"Seldom has that heart expressed itself as ambitiously or compellingly as it does in This Is How It Goes (* * * ½ out of four), the most frank, fearless look at race relations from a white dramatist since Rebecca Gilman's Spinning into Butter."
______________________________________________________________


"The Public's George C. Wolfe, one of the most socially astute directors of his generation, briskly guides a cast that is as savvy as it is starry. Ben Stiller could play a nerdy prankster in his sleep, but he's equally impressive relaying the remorse and self-doubt underlying Man's bad behavior.

Amanda Peet is a strong foil as the long-suffering, if sometimes irritating, Belinda, while Jeffrey Wright's hilarious and withering Cody reconfirms his status as one of the most commanding and versatile actors of his generation.

All the players must contend with moments that seem contrived or pedantic. A heated monologue that Man delivers recalls a similar tirade offered by the lead male character in LaBute's The Shape of Things, pointing out obvious ills in an eloquent but belabored manner.

But This Is How It Goes is ultimately less judgmental than wistful — wistful in LaBute's fashion, which is also to say prickly, funny and sure to ruffle a few feathers."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2005-03-27-this-is-how-it-goes_x.htm

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/28/05 at 1:09am

Brantley is mixed:

" The world has been taught to trust Ben Stiller. True, from certain angles he has a furtive, ferrety look. But through a succession of wildly popular film comedies (most recently, "Meet the Fockers"), Mr. Stiller has grown to fit the classic cinematic mantle of every klutz - the likable, average Joe of good faith and bad coordination.

This makes Mr. Stiller the ideal guide for escorting audiences through the slippery, shadow-filled maze of Neil LaBute's "This Is How It Goes," the extended ploy of a play that opened last night at the Public Theater."
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/03/28/theater/reviews/28publ.html