Trust the Man Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Trust The Man

I have previously bemoaned (most recently in refernce to Freedomland) just how far the career of the great Julianne Moore has fallen. Okay, everyone makes a poor choice every now and then but Moore's career has been, since Far From Heaven and The Hours, for both of which she was deservedly nominated for Oscars in a single year, in what seems at this stage to be a terminal decline. Trust The Man does her no favours in this respect, rather than giving her a ladder to climb out of the grave she's digging for her career husband and Director Freundlich has handed her a shovel.

The story is one you've seen a million times; two couples going through relationship woes. That's all you need to know about the story.

Right from the off I started to get the feeling I wasn't going to like Trust The Man as it opens with an utterly uninspiring credit sequence which does nothing to get us into the story, instead it just sits there. However this is about the highlight, simply because it features none of the main 'characters'.

I use the word character advisedly. Trust The Man barely has them, we spend two hours with, almost exclusively, four people and by the end we know nothing more about them than we do by the end of the first scene they appear in. This is because Freundlich's script gives none of them a personality, they are ciphers with one (or less) persoanlity trait each (Gyllenhaal's character wants a baby, Crudup's is afraid of death, etc) indeed they would struggle to ccome up with a personality between them.

The film looks perfectly okay, but never more, and often less. Freundlich directs in standard issue rom-com (though there's precious little rom here and no com whatsoever) fashion, bright and flat.

There isn't a single line in the film that rings true. All the dialogue is false, forced and anytime the film tries to be remotely serious it comes off as pretentious.

Events feel contrived too, particularly an excruciating finale at the play Moore's character is appearing in and side characters flutter in and out to no purpose (for example does Ellen Barkin's publisher actually publish Gyllenhaal's novel).

Freundlich can't be expected to take all the blame though as the performances are, frankly, completely wretched. Moore, previously incapable of seeming false on screen, is just terrible, betraying almost no emotion during any scene. She and Duchovny display little of the chemistry which made the ludicrous Evolution function. Duchovny too gives a blank performance. It's left to Billy Crudup to flail around, wave his arms and give a big performance as the 'comic relief' of the film and Maggie Gyllenhaal flounders, lost with a complete nothing of a character, trying hard but coming off like she's in high school drama.

Trust The Man is torturously poor, there's not a frame that feels true, not a second that isn't derivative not a line that doesn't sound stupid and not a joke you've not heard told, better, before. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, can somebody slap Julianne Moore out of her coma and bring back the fantastic actress I miss?

Mediocre and boring .....

I'm a woman and I really disliked this film, and I can't even tell you why. Hollywood seems to be cashing in on films that highlight men and their lack of relationship skills: it goes like this...they have a good woman but have to lose her first to really appreciate what they had to begin with.

Films about stereotypes are so common and uneventful, but I guess it's alot easier to do than actually work on a film that is thought provoking and actually worth the cinema ticket feer! Don't bother with this film! Nothing about the film is appealing...except the stunning Maggie G!(she can do no wrong in my book: she is quirky, brilliant and so gorgeous!She's the only reason I watched the film to begin with and stayed till the end)

Why three stars?

Look! it's just been released this week and I've just been to see it and I don't know why it's got 3 stars before a single review has been submitted. But beleive me, don't waste 90 minutes of your life you'll never get back - I have so you don't have to. To make it worse I was at the UGC at East Indai Quay and they didn't even bother putting the air con on and people next to me never stopped yakking until I told them to shut up! But even without these irritants this movie isn't worth it. I wouldn't even diginify it by giving a synopsis or recounting it's low points, but suffice to say it only got made because the director sleeps with Julianne Moore! Time for a divorce Julianne...

Average

I went to see this film last night, it had a fair few laughs in it, although it was a little depressing watching the relationships break down. As predicted, ended happily. Most likely not everyone's cup of tea, but i'm glad i saw it, just the once.

avaerge

this film was about average, the acting was okay! maybe mediocre, its worth a watch it wasnt bad funny at times also very predictable

Disappointment

I'd wanted to see this film for ages and when it finally came through the letter box, it went straight into the DVD player and my position of the sofa was firmly booked. Unfortunately I shouldn't have wasted my time. As a massive fan of David Duchovny since the days of being a teenager and watching him tackle green men in the X-files this was a complete disappointment. The plot was inevitably predictable but you can always forgive that if you at least get grab into the story – however I wasn’t. The story of two couples and their problems well ….. just kinda plods along. As for the stars of the film, there was no chemistry between Julianne Moore and Duchovny, and I couldn’t even find myself believing in their character’s stories. Maggie Gyllenhaal however was a plus for the film – but again the story was not one she could have saved. If you’re looking for a romantic comedy with Duchovny bypass this one and rent Return to Me.

A prime example of a film that qualifies for zero stars!

Truly terrible. Don't waste your life watching it!

Good stuff for the most part

Good movie to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The prelude to the ending and the end itself was a bit botched for our taste but as former New Yorkers, the native idosynchrosies, the familiar Big Apple landmarks and the foibles on display were remarkably consonant with our own experiences in life so bravo for that!!! Recommended

Trust the Man

This was so painful and embarassing! We watched only 20 minutes and had to turn it off. Would not recommend rental of this DVD!

Dreadful!

Truly dreadful! I had high hopes for this film as it has an impressive cast. But seriously...it's drivvle. Typical 'man has no idea how good he's got it until he loses it' hogwash. Duchovny's character is just plain unlikeable, and I can't remember the others enough to comment so obviously they weren't up to much either! I sat there thinking 'well, I'm not going to get the last 40 minutes of my life back so I'm going to stick it out in case it gets good'...and it didn't! Literally cheered when the titles started rolling.