REVIEW
Trust the Man

While nestled into a darkened theater, my feet seeking out an illegal perch on the empty chair in front of me, I was ready to dive in and enjoy a new movie when a preview utterly captivated my attention. I thought to myself, “Ooooo.  Look at that cast . . . falling in and out of love  . . . in New York City.  That’s gonna be one great indie flick.” You can thus imagine my surprise and disappointment upon discovering that Trust the Man is neither indie nor great . . . but is instead a contrived and lackluster romantic comedy. 

The film is by no means a failure – it is entertaining.  I actually came away with a smile on my face, believing that I had truly enjoyed what I had just seen.  But after sitting down to write and digging through my thoughts, I discovered that I was just really disappointed. Director Bart Freundlich had all the pieces in place, had all the potential for indie greatness but just failed to deliver, failed to capitalize on all Trust the Man had to offer.
 
The film follows the lives of four friends - Rebecca (Julianne Moore) is a celebrated theater actress who glibly and remorselessly tosses the mothering duties of her two young children upon her “lost” husband Tom (David Duchovny).  Tobey (Billy Crudup) is Tom’s best friend, Rebecca’s brother and Elaine’s boyfriend . . . and he would probably prioritize them all in that order.  Slacker sums up his personality to a tee but Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring children’s book author, doesn’t seem to mind . . . or wait, maybe she does.  I just can’t tell. 

Focusing on four friends who have complicated and overlapping lives, loves and stories is not a new concept.  Hello most television shows . . . Scrubs, Will and Grace, Sex in the City . . . just to name a few.  In each of these, four friends dive, spiral, twist and turn through the heights and depths of friendship, love and life.  And we love them for it.  We are interested, we tune in, we want to know.  So at the very least, Trust the Man has that going for it. 

But unfortunately, that’s about it.  The film stays shallow and uncommitted when it should dig deep, soar high and pull together to a rich and full conclusion.  While we are given wonderful actors, we are missing wonderful characters.  Why is Tobey a screw-up?  What happened to make Rebecca so selfish and insensitive to her husband’s needs?  What makes Elaine want to have a baby so badly?  Why did Tom give up his dreams . . . and heck, what were they in the first place?  I’m sorry to say that after watching the entire movie, I have absolutely no idea.

So while Duchovny is solid, Moore luminous, Crudup outlandishly crazy and Gyllenhaal pensive and insightful, the absolute lack of any sort of developed back story causes the four to bounce around without any rhyme or reason or any real motivations. Rather than take action, change, grow or soar, they merely exist, merely react to their surroundings.

The supporting roles are bland and unimpressive as well, serving their function and not much else.  Faith (Eva Mendes) is seductive – sort of. Pamela (Dagmara Dominczyk) is assertively suggestive – but just barely.  I found myself thinking, “Why are these men attracted to these superficial and one-dimensional women?  Oh right – their respective others aren’t much better.”

Maybe it was intentional, given the title Trust the Man and all, but I couldn’t comprehend either Rebecca or Elaine for the life of me.  I found myself standing alongside Tom or Tobey, wondering what the hell had just happened to light the fuse of the emotional blow up made by one (or both) of the leading ladies.  Maybe it is good to simply trust the man.

Essentially, Trust the Man settles for good rather than striving for great and caused me to make the age-old discovery that everyone knows but continually has to re-learn - Enjoyment is fleeting but quality lasts forever.  And unfortunately for Trust the Man, it won’t be lasting forever.