TRUST THE MAN
Bart Freundlich delivers trust, from a woman's perspective
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Trust The Man"
By Omar P.L. Moore/August 18, 2006
Table for four: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore share a smile, while Billy Crudup and David Duchovny look on. The hot zone: Eva Mendes makes an offer that Billy Crudup cannot refuse in "Trust The Man". (Photos: K.C. Bailey/Fox Searchlight)
"Trust The Man" is a solid drama about real relationships and the things that go
wrong and right with them where the sexes are concerned. Set in New York
City, which in the opening credits is chronicled with love -- via shots of some
of New York City's signature places (perhaps the director's favorites as well)
-- "Trust The Man" features two couples, one married with children (Julianne
Moore and David Duchovny) and the other a boyfriend-girlfriend tandem (Billy
Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhaal). The film spends time setting up the
dynamics between the couples and cheerfully spotlights some of the weaknesses
the men in particular have.
Tom (Duchovny) is a sex-addict and spends time trying to get his successful actress-wife Rebecca (Moore) to be a part of his pornography viewing sessions, during which her (pardon the pun) blow-by-blow commentary makes for an excruciating experience for him. For Rebecca, her career is filled with the demands of an overbearing boss and her personal life with the whining fatalistic sentiments of her lazy brother Tobey (Crudup). Elaine (Gyllenhaal) an aspiring novelist and Tobey's girlfriend of seven years, wants what most people desire: security, peace of mind and to start a family.
Freundlich gives the ordinariness of these two couples' staid lives (amplified by the occasional slightly color-drained cinematography of Tim Orr) a comedic twist and throws a conundrum or two into the mix: Tom's son's school friend's mother becomes an alluring opportunity for the sex that he desperately misses in his marriage, while a former flame from Tobey's college days (Eva Mendes) who is now married, spices up Tobey's sex life.
While the significance of New York City as a character in "Trust The Man" is never far away, there is a constant tension that lingers between these four individuals as they try both not to get lost in the insignificance that the Big Apple as a city can sometimes render upon a person, and also try not to get lost within themselves. Unfortunately for the characters of the story, their plights are a metaphor for both the twists and turns of life as well as for the exhilaration and randomness of New York's multitude of opportunities for relationships with different cultures on every block.
Smaller scale characters appear in this film to provide some respite from the heavier drama in "Trust The Man", played by actors James Le Gros (as Elaine's would-be fling), Bob Balaban (as Tobey's psychiatrist), Ellen Barkin (as an overly flirtatious book publisher) and Garry Shandling (as the bewildered psychiatrist of Tom and Rebecca).
Some of the film's dialogue is very real. The script, also written by the director, contains several kernels of truth. Some lines capture the anguish of an insensitive or inopportune moment when one or more people say things they wish (or don't wish) they had not said. Freundlich has been married to Julianne Moore for several years, and perhaps fittingly, her star shines brightest in this film. The only thing that lets this entertaining and emotionally honest film down is its Hollywood ending, which illustrates its own theater of drama and life -- but "Trust The Man" does indeed prove that art imitates life.
"Trust The Man" is rated R for sexual content, language and brief nudity. The film's duration is 1 hour and 41 minutes.
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