Review of Trust the Man (2005) by Matthew R — 06 Jun 2007

?Trust the Man? is David Duchovny and Julianne Moore?s new, sort of dark, sort of light, sort of comedy, sort of drama that sort of knows where its going for most of the movie and sort of doesn?t. What ?Trust the Man? doesn?t do is trust itself with any of its material and ends up with a huge case of identity crisis.

The whole film swaps its theme in each scene. In one scene it is a dark comedy as Tom (Duchovny) and Rebecca?s (Moore) marriage falls apart in front of the kids while another is a some what raunchy comedic scene where Tom tries to fit in with a support group of sex addicts, by saying that he likes to be wrapped in lunch meats before the act. A scene that seems like it should be in a Frat Pack movie rather than one covering such serious relationship issues.

Mean while Tobey (Billy Crudup) and Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) are having relationship issues of their own but unfortunately Elaine is from a classic chick flick and Tobey is from ?Dude Where?s My Car,? making their relationship seem like two different films edited together.

On top of all this once the two men (after pounding each others fists and saying ?You da man?) figure out that they have totally screwed up their relationships in major ways the film decides that its more of a buddy dramedy (oh, and throw in a little coming of age stuff) than that maybe romantic comedy you thought you were watching. This is all good and well because Duchovny and Crudup have a great repertoire but it?s not what the rest of the movie was building up to so the leap leaves you not trusting anyone.

The saddest part is that each one of these scenes work pretty well and has a great cast to support them but nothing can ever get off the ground. It?s easy to laugh at the ridiculous boyfriends that Elaine picks up after Tobey and her split, but it completely sucks the life out the darker comedy behind their split and ensuing arguments. Tom a Tobey?s obviously close friendship is touching at times but their behavior during most of the film belies their feelings towards their significant others.

?Trust the Man? just doesn?t stick to anything and thus loses everything its going for except a few laughs. It?s a loss that could have been avoided had someone come in and kept the film a bit more streamlined and on focus, but in this case the producers clearly trusted the wrong man (director and writer Bart Freundlich) when they went ahead with this film.