You know those films where the women are smart, sophisticated, beauttiful, and they’re married to idiots who don’t deserve them? How about films where the guy keeps screwing up in comedic ways while the woman dates a string of losers that in real life she wouldn’t even give the time of day. We’ve seen it before, and, trust me here, we’ve seen it done better. Still Trust the Man has some likeable stars giving nice performances and a few genuinely funny moments. Not great, not bad, it’s just kinda’ okay.
Trust the Man
2 & 1/2 Stars
Here’s everything you need to know about Trust the Man. Every single moment in the film is done for a laugh, even the dramatic moments, and it’s not really a comedy. We’ve got the man who’s afraid of commitment, the woman who dates all the wrong guys, the cheating husband, and the frigid wife. What keeps the film from being an outright bore is the likeability of its stars, who do what they can with a pretty average script; they aren’t quite able to save it, but do provide some memorable moments.
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Tom (David Duchovny) and Tobey (Billy Crudup) are best friends. Tom is married to Tobey’s sister Rebecca (Julianne Moore) who is best friends with Tobey’s wife Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The trouble is Tom and Tobey are typical Hollywood movie husbands who can’t help but disastrously screw up their relationship because the script tells them too.
Tom has an obsession with sex and needs more than Rebecca is willing to give. Rather than sit down and examine the problem Tom wanders with the single mother (Dagmara Dominczyk) of his son’s classmate. Tobey has an irrational fear of death (which is never adequately explored or explained) and a complete fear or marriage, commitment, and fathering a baby. Well isn’t that the perfect man for Maggie to be with (Why is she with him again?).
It’s all the guys fault. Neither of them are likable, much less lovable. Even the supporting guys are shmucks, like Justin Bartha as a needy castmate in Rebecca’s play who keeps coming on to her.
There is no sense of continuity or real narrative to the script. This may work in a madcap comedy, but in a not-that-light-hearted romantic dramedy, it comes of more than a little off-putting. There are only two reasons why things happen in this film: because the script calls for them to and the writer thought it was funny. Sadly he only bats about .500 for the film.
Other walking punch lines include Eva Mendes in a small role where she looks sexy and decides to make a play for the lifetime screw up Tobey instead of her perfectly chiseled husband… because the script calls for it. Ellen Barkin shows up for a weird lesbian moment with Elaine because… the script calls for it. Elaine dates an insipid folk singer (James LeGros) and ridiculous foreign man (Glenn Fitzgerald) because… the script calls for it. Tobey and Tom cause a disruption at Rebecca’s play because… you guessed it.
The other oddity you’ll notice about writer/director Bart Freundlich is his obvious dislike and distrust of psychologists. He gives us not one but too off-putting, unprofessional and poor examples of the profession (Garry Shandling and Bob Balaban. Again, like so much in the film, these roles serve no real purpose except to provide attempts at awkward humor and laughs.
Not a great film; it certainly gets some nice performances out of its fine cast, but you just begin to wonder about all the little things. With this talented a group why you aren’t viewing a much superior picture? Why are these couples together? Why are the two couples friends? And perhaps most importantly, why should we care? The film doesn’t answer any of these questions, but does deliver some humorous moments. I can’t bring myself to recommend the film to you, but if you like this group of actors, and you keep your expectations low, you might have an enjoyable enough time.