Did Critics Get Caught Up in LaBute's This Is How It Goes Triangle?

The Public Theater is offering what has become one of the hottest tickets of the season--Neil LaBute's This Is How It Goes, which features Ben Stiller, Amanda Peet and Jeffrey Wright. The tricky tale, directed by George C. Wolfe, officially opened on March 27 at the Public's Anspacher Theater. Did it go well with the critics?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Eric Grode in his Broadway.com Review: "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… In his swan song as Public Theater artistic director, Wolfe elicits terse, believable work from his starry trio. Wright is as relaxed as I've ever seen him on stage, easing into Cody's well-rehearsed suavity and bristling discomfort… Peet doesn't have nearly as many opportunities to dazzle as the two men, but she paints a compelling picture of a pretty, rather naive girl living in a domestic cell of her own making. But This Is How It Goes rests on the shoulders of its fidgety narrator, and Stiller stretches himself just enough to keep things interesting."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "The first third of the play's 90 minutes is pretty involving. But then the realization sinks in that for all the distracting fancy footwork, Mr. LaBute is doing a waltz he has danced better before. The moralizing machinery of the plot overwhelms and shrinks two hitherto intriguing characters into totemic figures of manly evil. Mr. Wolfe, a brilliant director, is not in top form. Though the designer Riccardo Hernández keeps the look of the production artificially simple, an even less realistic approach might work better. Mr. Wright, one of the finest actors in New York, is uncomfortably miscast as the grown-up golden boy and he overcompensates with an elaborately mannered performance. And even Mr. Stiller, a natural for his part, can't conceal the sound of grinding gears toward the play's end. Ms. Peet is wonderful throughout."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Plot credibility and character exploration are downplayed in favor of schematic plotting and a trick ending, which has been the problem with many of this undeniably talented writer's other efforts. Still, there is much of interest here, thanks to LaBute's typically pungent and often very funny dialogue, George C. Wolfe's playful staging, and the fine performances… It's too bad, then, that the playwright seems less interested in exploring his provocative theme than in manipulating the audience."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Charm is not a word you generally associate with the plays of Neil LaBute, whose aim is to make his audience uncomfortable. But the charm Ben Stiller brings to LaBute's latest, This Is How It Goes, does a lot to make it bearable… The action does not proceed in a through line because LaBute is constantly rethinking the relationships of the trio. And that's where Stiller's charm plays so important a role… Ultimately, the play is irritating not because it confronts us with our own insecurities about racial issues but because it jerks us around."

David Rooney of Variety: "A sharply honed work that insidiously inches under the skin with its unforgiving insights and typically LaBute-ian nasty tricks, the play is tersely directed by departing Public Theater producer George C. Wolfe on Riccardo Hernandez's fittingly triangular stage… Given crisp guidance by director Wolfe, who displays a fine ability to arrive at the nerve center of each scene, the trio of actors play off each other with bristling uneasiness that taps into both LaBute's cynical cruelty and his corrosive humor."

Peter Santilli of The Associated Press: "Lack of reliability permeates this unpredictable and unforgiving play and all its deceitful characters--an effect that sets the audience on edge, which is probably just as the playwright intended… 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…. [Stiller] seems to have a knack for performing LaBute's conversational brand of dialogue and has a strong chemistry with Peet. But neither is able to dig into LaBute's script as deeply and effectively as Jeffrey Wright."

Elysa Gardner of USA Today: "Stage and screenwriter Neil LaBute has been called a provocateur, a misanthrope and, less fairly, a misogynist. But the common thread running through his work is a dual appreciation for the necessity and the futility of human goodness. Scratch past the acerbic surface of his dialogue and you'll find a disillusioned heart, still trying to hope against hope. Seldom has that heart expressed itself as ambitiously or compellingly as it does in This Is How It Goes,, 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."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "From the title onward, we are whipped around the seemingly obvious story by our amiable narrator--played with friendly and shocking layers of weaseling manipulation by Ben Stiller. The playing floor for George C. Wolfe's wise and slick production is a simple triangle… Peet, a late replacement when a family emergency removed Marisa Tomei, has an elegant combination of rich-girl entitlement and small-town awkwardness as Belinda… Wright is deliciously slippery, with a violent undercurrent of self-protection… If the plot is meant to jerk us around, LaBute's writing does it with unusual grace. In Stiller's final, virtuosic monologue, he says 'Truth is so damn ... elusive, isn't it?' The only unambiguous thing about this astonishing play is its quality."