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

I missed this one at last year's Toronto International Film Fesival, but have just seen a preview prior, presumably to its Toronto release.

For me live-in lovers Billy Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhall delivered sparkling performances far more sympatici than the other couple -- the married pair of Julianne Moore and David Duchovny who also did their job well, but it's the antics of the former two that keep this film alive and moving.

Without wising a spoiler on you, I was in a genuine state of suspense over whether or not this movie would have a feel good ending.

The behaviour of these four characters is not really rooted in reality -- who expects this of a comedy? -- but their quirks and good qualities are sufficiently close to it speak for the times.

There were several good laughs and a couple of good running jokes which didn't pall on me.

I found Trust the Man a likable effort which should prove popular in spite of what I know will be some critics' objections for occasional in-your-face crudities

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!

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.

Tom (David Duchovny) is a stay-at-home dad married to a popular actress (Julianne Moore), while his best friend and her younger brother Tobey (Billy Crudup) has lived for eight years with the hard-working Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) but won't commit to the relationship by marrying her. This is what happens when these four New Yorkers decide to explore other options.

At a glance, Trust the Man seems harmless enough but it's actually fake and a bit too insignificant to really have an impact on the viewer. The script was simple and it wasn't hard to figure out where things were going. The dialog was okay although some of it was a bit unnatural. I'm not from New York so maybe this is actually normal behavior but a lot of the conversations were just awkward and none of it felt real. All of the characters spoke in the same way so the movie got a little irritating because it was just the same personalities on screen and there was no variety. However, some of the dialog and scenes were pretty funny.

The characters weren't particularly interesting and most of them were unlikable. In the beginning, their situations were interesting to watch and then the film ditched the laughs and got all serious. The sudden change of tone invited the viewer to feel sorry for these people even though most were one-dimensional and pretty selfish. So, the first half of the movie was decently funny and consistent. The second half was serious and just not very interesting. The one thing I did like about the movie was the setting and Bart Freundlich did a good job at creating a realistic area. It's too bad he couldn't use some of that realism with the script and characters.

Out of the leading cast, Billy Crudup gave the best performance. His character was pretty selfish yet still engaging and funny. David Duchovny was very wooden and not interesting at all. This was probably the intention although I didn't like the idea of his character at all and his performance was unbearable at times. Maggie Gyllenhaal was fine but she can do better and she didn't seem to really be trying. Julianne Moore had a couple of good scenes although she was a bit over the top and fake. Out of the supporting cast, Eva Mendes was surprisingly funny although she was only on screen for about ten minutes, maybe a little less. She was the only one who stuck out from that group. Overall, Trust the Man had a decent story although it couldn't generate genuine sympathy due to it's shallow and fake storyline. If you like any of the actors, it might be worth a rental although they all have better work out there. Rating 5/10

I watched this movie hoping for a French-style witty and reflective comedy examining complex relationships. What a pity this wasn't a European movie set in the cafés and homes of Paris rather than New York!

After a promising 15 minutes when initial relationships are established, the whole thing rapidly descends into a series of cheap and corny attempts at humour all rounded off with the worst of Hollywood RomCom endings. Secondary characters such as the guy with the foreign accent are one dimensional and clichéd, so that an interesting comedy descends into not-very-funny farce, and the potential for comic examination of believable roles and relationships is lost.

The leads - especially Maggie Gyllenhall, Julianne Moore and David Duchovney - are (as always) excellent. But their contribution is in spite of, not because of, the script.

6/10 - but only to reflect the lead actors' efforts to rescue a really disappointing script.