Trust the Man

Trust the Man *1/2

The problem with "Trust the Man" doesn't land on the hands of the actors involved, but the actual script and story itself. Sometimes, I felt as if I was watching an hour and forty minute sitcom as opposed to an actual film. At times, it gets so bad, and so utterly pointless that I really were hoping that it would cut to commericals. And it a real shame, considering the four main cast members are actors that I really admire-David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, and Billy Crudup. There isn't a bad member in the bunch, and I can't believe that none of these talented actors sat down for a second, and actually thought about the "story' that they were a part of. Did it ever hit them that maybe nothing that happens in the entire film has any relevance to anything else? More on that later. . .

"Trust the Man" is basically the story of four people, and two couples. There is Tom and Rebecca, who are married and have two children. Rebecca works as an actress, and Tom acts as the house husband. After a long hard day of playing with the kids and going to the park and the store, all Tom wants at the end of the night is a little bit o' action with the wife, which she doesn't seem to want to give him. They do have some problems, martially. They go to a marriage shrink, but instead of going once a week like the shrink recommends, they only go once a year. They say that it releases the tension brought upon by the year. He complains about this to his best friend, and brother in law, Tobey. "I guess you thought that it would be more like marrying a hooker," Tobey says to him. "Yeah, only without the payment." Tobey has his own relationship problems. His girlfriend of seven years, Elaine is going through that time of her life where she wants to have a baby, and he, scared out of his mind about the idea, gets scared. So, they split up, and for the rest of the film,we see the fate of the two couples, as Tom is swayed to temptation about a possible affair with the mother of one of the children from his kids class, Rebecca is hit on by one of her co-stars in the play she's in, and Tobey watches as Elaine begins to date other men.

The problem with "Trust the Man" is that it doesn't have enough story to cover a full length feature. There are often extended scenes of the guys talking about sex, sports, and other things, while the girls talk about the men in their lives. At times it was like watching "Sex in the City" come to the big screen. In addition to that, it had so many additive scenes that didn't advance the plotline at all. What was with the scene where the head of a publishing company came on to Elaine, who wants to get her children's book published? What was with the old married friend that Tobey met again from college? Tom ends up thinking that it might be possible that he has a sexual addiction, so he goes to a meeting, where he gets intimidated and lies about a sexual fetish that he has. In order to have a fully satisfying experience, he must be wrapped in deli meats first. I mean, come on, this didn't even get mentioned again. "Trust the Man" is four fine preformances, ruined with a script that is better for television, if even that. It's obvious why this was released furing the final moments of Augest.