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TRUST THE MAN Send This Review to a Friend
A good cast is wasted on writer-director Bart Freundlich’s screenplay that tries to depict romantic involvements but fails to make them remotely believable. “Trust the Man” places its characters in situations that make them seem dumber than they are meant to be, with dialogue to match. It is an annoying film despite its efforts to seem sophisticated and contemporary.
The film examines the lives of a married couple—Julianne Moore as Rebecca, a noted actress and David Duchovny as Tom, her husband, whose profession is advertising but who stays home to help take care of running the household. We can measure the tenor of the film at the start when conversation concerns their baby son trying to poop.
The other twosome consists of Rebecca’s younger brother Tobey, played by Billy Crudup, who doesn’t know what to do with his life, and his girlfriend Elaine, portrayed by the accomplished Maggie Gyllenhaal, who wants to be a writer and needs commitment. One would think that with a cast like this sparks would be generated.
But despite their efforts, the screenplay keeps setting up situations and dialogue that make one lose patience with all of them. As for a key romantic confrontation, which takes place in full view of a Lincoln Center theater audience, the scene is so deadly and embarrassing that one wonders how on earth Freundlich thought it would work. A Fox Searchlight Films release.
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