Uomini & donne - Tutti dovrebbero venire... almeno una volta!

This film seems to seek only to be exactly what it seems to be on first viewing, and manages that superbly. And all this is is just one more 'relationship' movie, showing the problems faced in modern life by 'trendy' couples in New York.

The film portrays two couples living in New York, a brother and sister and their respective partners, who have the typical problems with each other. One couple has Julianne Moore and David Duchovny in a marriage gone stale (unimaginatively shown through the medium of having Moore's character repetitively refuse her husband sex), and the other has Maggie Gyllenhaal desperate to further both her career and relationship with a boyfriend who is terrified to commit, apparently because of a fear of dying.

Not exactly original is it. Throughout the movies I just found it to be simply leaning on the stable stereotypes and ideas of every other film of this genre before it, but with little or no effort to flesh out the characters to an interesting level, something vital in a film of this kind. None of the characters in this piece are interesting, and you just cannot bring yourself to care about them. I really expected more from Duchovny and Moore, who we know can do this sort of thing well if they try, and the only one here who vaguely manages to come out of this well is Gyllenhaal, who somehow manages to work through the material and give Elaine a level of naivety and a hope to improve on her lot to make us root for her.

This is where I felt the movie, like many others like it, missed the point; these characters have problems, they're not happy and their relationships are falling apart but they don't seem to want to bother doing anything about it. In fact 'helping yourself' is actively mocked. Tom and Rebecca go to marriage counselling once a year as a joke to wind up their guidance councillor. When Tom joins a sex addicts group (apparently if you're wife refuses to have sex with you ever, and tells you this to your face, if you still want sex yourself it means you're a sex addict. No one wants sex once you have children! What a freak!) we just get shown an amusing group of weirdos with stupid and amusing fetishes involving power tools.

What this shows to me is just one more love story of how New York (once again shown as a seeming example of the epitome of American society) drains people and makes them miserable and alone. How everyone is miserable, but trying to improve your lot is pointless and laughable, so just get over it and you'll get the inevitable happy ending where both couples get what they wanted from the start, not because they've actually changed or started liking each other, but because we've got the end of the film and need to wrap it up for that cathartic happy ending that the audience wants. The moral: don't bother trying to change your life if it's not working, it'll all work out in the end if you pretend your happy.

One of the significant tragedies in modern film is the coupling of one of our most powerful actresses with an insipid filmmaker.

Here, we have her placed in a film he made, playing an actress with an insipid husband — a writer. He has a friend who is there simply to say goofier things, and thereby make the film appealing. As with all date movies, the separated couple is reunited by a public confession of love that is accepted (and happily ever after...). In this case, that confession literally happens at a play Julianne's character is in. So there's the simple, mechanical narrative fold.

As a quirky, inconsequential film, its not so bad, about in the middle of its cohort. Our goofy pair, anchored by Billy Crudup who is observed by Gyllenhaal (and in another position, Shandling). But no one really comes to film simply to tread water in the flood of desperate romance. We come for some advance. With films that advertise themselves as trivial, a trivial advance will do.

Nothing here does that, and because the centerpiece is a woman who is patiently wasting her life, the message is clear.

So I will recommend that you not watch this unless you are prepared to get depressed.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This film is about the relationship turmoil about two couples, with them all trying their best to save their relationships.

I saw this film mainly because of the stellar cast that the film has assembled. The initial scene of couple therapy reminds me of a similar scene in "Mr And Mrs Smith", and is certainly funny. However, there is not much humour in the film after that. The plot then spirals to become outrageous and unbelievable. This film is marketed as a comedy, and yet I do not think it is funny. It is more drama than comedy.

The film is often slow and fails to grasp the attention of the viewers. I get the impression that events in the film happen just for the sake of happening. I can see no reason why the events happen that way. Maybe it really was because my attention deficit, that I do not even recall seeing David Duchovny's character having any evidence of having an affair at all apart from his self confession.

I think this film could have been good with a better plot, but the plot is quite a mess and does not make viewers interested in what happens next. The ending is artificial and seem forcefully put together. I would not recommend this movie!

With over 100 feature films released in year, it can be hard to keep track of all the titles worth tracking down and checking out. Last year I saw a preview for Trust the Man before Thank You For Smoking, but with the great number of other flicks coming out in wider release, I forgot about it until this weekend. After watching it, I wish I had forgotten about it completely for there is almost nothing redeeming about this cinematic catastrophe. The cast has no chemistry, the writing and directing is amateurish, and cinematography is murky.

However, the picture's biggest fault is the tone. Trust the Man drifts uneasily from dirty sex comedy to tepid romance to boring drama from scene to scene, making for not only an extremely frustrating viewing experience, but an uncomfortable one as well. It's as writer/director Bart Freundlich didn't know what genre he wanted his movie to fall under during shooting, thinking that he would decide later in the editing room. Apparently that didn't work out either as it seems there are numerous scenes missing or incomplete. Other scenes go on far too long(the scenes with Billy Crudup in his car are perfect examples). There wasn't a single scene in Trust the Man I found effective, funny, or well done. The plot is a huge mess, gaping with holes. The only reason I give it a 1 as opposed to a zero is I reserve zeros for only those films that I find morally offensive/repugnant or without any artistic value whatsoever. 1/10

Trust the Man Mr. Black's Grade: C+ Opening Date: possibly June, 2006 Look at this cast! Billy Crudup , David Duchovny , Ellen Barkin , Eva Mendes , Julianne Moore , Justin Bartha and Maggie Gyllenhaal .

Trust the Man is a well written comedy about two men fighting to save their relationships after a bunch of drama, cheating, and trial separations. Unfortunately you could 'see' the writing all over the big screen. I didn't believe for a moment that these folks were real people, just actors reading a script. You could almost see the smirk on their faces before they said their funny lines - there was nothing spontaneous about it at all.

Part of the problem was the all-star cast. Now I understand bringing in Julianne Moore. When you are the director, ya got to put your wife in the picture - but why Gary Shandling? Don't get me wrong, Gary is a funny, funny guy. But the moment he's on you say to yourself, "hey there's Gary Shandling, time to be funny" and he's in a pretty small role. The same thing happens when Ellen Barkin hits the screen.

This is a business, and they needed to 'sell' this movie, which they did, to Fox Searchlight for possible release next June. I'm pretty sure that director Bart Freundlich has some famous friends - he is one hell of a nice guy, very friendly and extroverted. If I was making low budget movie and knew Gary Shandling, I'd ask him to be in it too. But the laughs didn't come when they should have, and the casting really got in the way.