Trust The Man

(Bloody pictures aren't working again. Darn it.)

Trust The Man (2005)
Dir: Bart Freundlich
Starring: Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Magie Gyllenhaal, David Duchovny

I saw this yesterday at the cinema, knowing absolutely nothing about it. I don't usually do that. I always at least see the trailer before I go to see something. Anyway...

Trust The Man is a romantic comedy drama about New York couples discussing sex and relationships. That's basically it. Oh, OK, I'll explain the plot a bit more. Rebecca (Moore) is a famous actress, about to start rehearsing for a new play. Her husband Tom (Duchovny) is a bit of a sex addict who is currently unemployed. They have two young children. Rebecca's brother Tobey (Crudup) has a longtime girlfriend called Elaine (Gyllenhaal). Tobey is pretty immature and very casual about the relationship (even though they've been together for seven years), while Elaine wants to get married and start having children. The two couples are best friends.

Rebecca and Tom's marriage starts to fall apart, he has an affair, and starts going to Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings, where he learns that his problems aren't nearly as bad as everyone else's. Elaine meanwhile breaks up with Tobey and that's about it.

This film is really long. Well, actually, it's only 1 hour and 43 minutes, a normal length for a film, but it seemed to go on for about three hours. I'm not even kidding. It's not that it's a bad film, it just gets a little tedious. And all the characters ever do is whine about their relationships and talk about sex. We don't actually see a lot of sex - thankfully, since I was watching it with my mother - but they spend the whole film discussing it.

This movie would be awful if the actors hadn't been as good as they are. They really save the movie from falling into a big pit of monotony. Julianne More is an incredibly talented actress, of course, and David Duchovny, whom I had never heard of before, is very good as well. Billy Crudup is very funny, and Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her character very likable and understandable.

Basically, it is a couples' drama. It is all about relationships. However, there are some really funny bits, which provide relief from the depressiveness (is that a word?) of it all. Also, there ae very nice scenes of New York, where it was obviously all filmed on location. So if you're in the mood for a Woody Allen-style relationship fest, give it a go. It's not very memorable though, and will probably leave your head faster than it went in.

B+

Talliestar xxx

(IMDb have a crappy selection of quotes for this film, so I'll have to make do with a crappy one. Grr...)
Tobey: What's another kind of flower that you can get for a girl besides a rose?
Tom: What about an orchid?
Tobey: Are you kidding? That's even more expensive!