Julianne Online

Hollywood Reporter誌のレビュー
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001137703

Sep. 16, 2005 Trust the Man

By Michael Rechtshaffen TORONTO -- Just when it looked like the romantic comedy was doomed to forever repeat itself in some kind of formulaic purgatory, along comes filmmaker Bart Freudlich with "Trust the Man," a smart, sharply observed, highly affable look at contemporary relationships that finally injects a little life in the stagnating genre.

Working with a beautifully in-sync comic ensemble including Julianne Moore, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup, Freundlich, who's Moore's husband, delivers what is by far his most accessible -- and most satisfying -- film to date.

Fox Searchlight, which picked up the film midfestival, could have a tidy little hit on its hands, appealing to a grown-up audience hankering for something adult without the "Wedding Crashers"/"40 Year Old Virgin" frat boy vibe.

With New York City providing the appropriately urbane backdrop, the picture surveys the in-transition lives of two couples in very different stages of their relationship.

Rebecca is a successful actress whose sex-addict husband Tom (Duchovny) is a stay-at-home dad for their two young kids.

Her commitment-phobic younger brother Tobey (Billy Crudup), meanwhile, is perfectly content to stay the course of his 7-year relationship with girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a budding children's book writer aching to start a family of her own.

Despite the efforts of a couple of therapists played by Garry Shandling and Bob Balaban, Tom and Rebecca and Tobey and Elaine are each about to come face to face with potentially life-changing, but quite funny, obstacles.

Both geographically and thematically speaking, writer-director Freundlich finds himself on vintage Woody Allen turf here -- as in the "Manhattan"/"Husbands and Wives" Woody Allen -- while still managing to lend the production a unique voice of its own.

And Allen would've killed for Freundlich's terrific cast.

It's a real kick seeing Julianne Moore playing it for laughs for a change, and she's such a natural you wish she'd have signed on to do comedies years ago.

The same can be said for Crudup, a usually intense actor who plays things loose and loopy as the delightful Gyllenhaal's slacker b.f., while Duchovny looks to be really enjoying himself on screen for the first time in a long while.

Also amusing is Ellen Barkin as a book publisher who takes a shine to Gyllenhaal; James Le Gros as Dante, a sensitive singer-songwriter; and Eva Mendes as a friend of Crudup's from college looking for a little reunion action.

While the scripting loses a bit of its bite in the third act, when Freundlich playfully apes some of those rickety romantic comedy cliches missing from the rest of the film, it's a minor quibble.

Behind the scenes, it's also nice to see New York actually being played by itself for a change, and director of photography Tim Orr ("George Washington," "Little Manhattan"), takes full advantage of the local flavor, like Serendipity and The Magnolia Bakery, while incorporating those ever-changing elements, from wind to rain to snow and back again.

TRUST THE MAN
Fox Searchlight
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presents a Process Production
A Film by Bart Freundlich
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Bart Freundlich
Producers: Sidney Kimmel, Tim Perell, Bart Freundlich
Executive producers: Marina Grasic, Evelyn O'Neill
Director of photography: Tim Orr
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Editor: John Gilroy
Costume designer: Michael Clancy
Music: Clint Mansell
Cast:
Rebecca: Julianne Moore
Tom: David Duchovny
Tobey: Billy Crudup
Elaine: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Faith: Eva Mendes
Norah: Ellen Barkin
Dr. Beekman: Gary Shandling
Dante: James Le Gros
Running time -- 103 minutes
MPAA rating: Not yet rated


というわけで「最高の」「ウッディ・アレンに殺される」ほどの身内総出演映画を作り上げたバート氏。デイヴィッドにゲイリー・シャンドリングという組み合わせ、笑いのツボをよくご存じのようで。（内輪受けの世界？：笑）公開が楽しみです。