Your ‘Trust’ well-placed in Moore’s raunchy comedy
BostonHerald.com - Movie Reviews:Your ‘Trust’ well-placed in Moore’s raunchy comedy
By James Verniere
Boston Herald Film Critic
Friday, August 18, 2006 - Updated: 10:09 AM EST
In the uneven but frequently raucously funny “Trust the Man,” writer-director Bart Freundlich makes a credible bid to be a new Woody Allen.
In the film, Julianne Moore (also known as Mrs. Freundlich) and David Duchovny play Rebecca and Tom. She’s a - hmmm - movie star who also takes turns appearing on the New York stage. He’s a Mr. Mom who reads Camus in bed and used to be in advertising. He’s also smart and funny and loves their two children. The family, not unlike the Freundlichs, lives in unostentatious comfort in Manhattan’s legendary West Village.
Rebecca and Tom’s best friends are her younger brother Tobey (Billy Crudup), a writer of some sort and professional smart aleck, and Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring author of children’s books. Tobey and Elaine have been together for seven years, and she wants to get married and start a family.
The action begins inauspiciously with a couple of fart jokes and involves the meltdown of Rebecca and Tom’s marriage, caused in part by his out-of-control sexual urges and her unexplained sexual indifference. It also charts the slow breakup of Tobey and Elaine’s relationship due to his obsession with mortality (a well-known Allen concern) and his - argh - refusal to commit.
Yes, it’s nothing new in terms of romantic comedy plots. The comedy in “Trust the Man” springs as it should from dialogue, characters, situations and performances, and these things work often enough to keep you seated and laughing. As the horndog Tom, Duchovny especially rebounds from his 2004 semiautobiographical catastrophe “House of D,” and I can’t help but wonder if he’s the most interesting character in the film because he is its creator’s obvious alter ego.
Some of the fun of watching “Trust the Man” comes from playing: Is it real or not? Both male leads are men outshined professionally by the women in their lives.
Coincidentally or not, Moore’s acting career has thrived, while Freundlich’s work - “The Myth of Fingerprints,” “World Traveler” - has been met with some scathing reviews, although granted he has bravely soldiered on in spite of them.
A large part of “Trust the Man” does not work, including the title and a contrived climax set at Lincoln Center. But scenes in which Tom meets with a sex-addict support group are amusingly raunchy, and Ellen Barkin is terrific in a bit part as a sexy publisher who makes a pass at Elaine. Also in the supporting cast, James LeGros and Glenn Fitzgerald are memorable.
Notably, Freundlich’s script hints that Tom’s waywardness is a subconscious attempt to lash out against his more famous and successful wife. Are you listening, Julianne?
(“Trust the Man” contains raunchy dialogue and situations.)
By James Verniere
Boston Herald Film Critic
Friday, August 18, 2006 - Updated: 10:09 AM EST
In the uneven but frequently raucously funny “Trust the Man,” writer-director Bart Freundlich makes a credible bid to be a new Woody Allen.
In the film, Julianne Moore (also known as Mrs. Freundlich) and David Duchovny play Rebecca and Tom. She’s a - hmmm - movie star who also takes turns appearing on the New York stage. He’s a Mr. Mom who reads Camus in bed and used to be in advertising. He’s also smart and funny and loves their two children. The family, not unlike the Freundlichs, lives in unostentatious comfort in Manhattan’s legendary West Village.
Rebecca and Tom’s best friends are her younger brother Tobey (Billy Crudup), a writer of some sort and professional smart aleck, and Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring author of children’s books. Tobey and Elaine have been together for seven years, and she wants to get married and start a family.
The action begins inauspiciously with a couple of fart jokes and involves the meltdown of Rebecca and Tom’s marriage, caused in part by his out-of-control sexual urges and her unexplained sexual indifference. It also charts the slow breakup of Tobey and Elaine’s relationship due to his obsession with mortality (a well-known Allen concern) and his - argh - refusal to commit.
Yes, it’s nothing new in terms of romantic comedy plots. The comedy in “Trust the Man” springs as it should from dialogue, characters, situations and performances, and these things work often enough to keep you seated and laughing. As the horndog Tom, Duchovny especially rebounds from his 2004 semiautobiographical catastrophe “House of D,” and I can’t help but wonder if he’s the most interesting character in the film because he is its creator’s obvious alter ego.
Some of the fun of watching “Trust the Man” comes from playing: Is it real or not? Both male leads are men outshined professionally by the women in their lives.
Coincidentally or not, Moore’s acting career has thrived, while Freundlich’s work - “The Myth of Fingerprints,” “World Traveler” - has been met with some scathing reviews, although granted he has bravely soldiered on in spite of them.
A large part of “Trust the Man” does not work, including the title and a contrived climax set at Lincoln Center. But scenes in which Tom meets with a sex-addict support group are amusingly raunchy, and Ellen Barkin is terrific in a bit part as a sexy publisher who makes a pass at Elaine. Also in the supporting cast, James LeGros and Glenn Fitzgerald are memorable.
Notably, Freundlich’s script hints that Tom’s waywardness is a subconscious attempt to lash out against his more famous and successful wife. Are you listening, Julianne?
(“Trust the Man” contains raunchy dialogue and situations.)