Trust the Man

Year: 2005

Running time: 103 minutes

Certificate: 15

Language: English

Screenplay: Bart Freundlich

Director: Bart Freundlich

Starring: David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Dave.

Tom and Rebecca, talking about something.

Here we have a premise that is not terribly original: two successful couples living in New York are not particularly satisfied with their lives, there is some drama, cheating and such, they split up and then realise that actually they did love each other after all.

It's not quite as bad as that makes it sound, the reasons being David Duchovny and Julianne Moore. They have decent onscreen chemistry, and they are both good enough to make you care, at least a little, for the characters.

It's pretty standard fare, although there are a few quite funny scenes, a case in point being Rebecca Pollack (Moore), on her 'last carb day for a while', shoving as much cake down her throat as possible and choking. Grasping for a drink, the only thing to hand is a bottle of wine. It showcases Julianne Moore's under-used gift for physical comedy, something also seen in Evolution which, like Trust the Man also stars Duchovny and is decidedly average.

It may be set in New York, but this is no Annie Hall. It's not terrible, but it's forgettable.

Score: 5/10

Rachel.

Rebecca and Elaine, also talking about something.

I thought this film was OK, and agree with everything Dave has said. There was one thing about it that I thought ruined it a bit. At one point during the film Rebecca Pollack describes a relationship like the two of them are holding a stick. Sometimes you're really close and sometimes you're so far away from each other that one can barely see the other, but you never drop the stick! She's upset because her husband Tom Pollack (David Duchovny) has cheated on her, and so dropped the metaphorical stick. Pretty cheesy, but forgivable - it's a romantic comedy after all. However, the film reached a whole new level of cheesedom when in the final scene Rebecca used an actual stick to rescue Tom from the crowd, pulling him up on stage for a smooch. Tom had picked up the stick, and the film lost a point for me right then and there.

Score:6/10

Manohla at The New York Times is even less impressed than we were, and makes good points, while Stella at the BBC appeared to enjoy it a little more.