| Overall Grade: |
D+ |
|
| Story: |
D |
|
|
| Acting: |
B+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
D- |
|
|
| Visuals: |
D+ |
|
|
Mulder Forgot: Trust No One
by Eric (movies profile)
Sep 7, 2007
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
There is a reason I have little interest in New York City and Trust The Man reminded me why that is: it's filled with quasi-intellectuals that think that just because they're well-to-do New Yorkers that it means their lives are important. Woody Allen perhaps wasn't the first to blow the lid off this story, but he had the most fun ridiculing these types. Now comes this load of dung wrapped in the same sheets but provide none of the wit or interest.
Trust the Man is about two couples. Tom and Rebecca (David Duchovony and Julianne Moore) are married with two kids. Tobey and Elaine (Billy Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhaal) are in a relationship for the last seven years without the possibility of marriage. Both couples have issues that require long dinner conversations and trips to shrinks that really don't offer any kind of help. For Tom and Rebecca, their problems seem to come down to the fact that he wants sex and she doesn't. Tobey and Elaine's issues seem to stem from Elaine wanting kids and Tobey's afraid of dying. If that makes sense to you, then this is your movie. And of course everybody splits up for a while, a lot of musical montages as we see everybody sad and then everybody finds themselves in a place together so that we can have closure. And this time, the adults act so much like children that I just wanted to give them all a time out.
Most of the scenes feel a little too loose to be connected and aren't nearly as funny as the movie seems to think it is. What's most unforgiveable about this entire matter involves the fact that it wants to feel like an Allen comedy but witht eh safety of stereotypes. When you see the end result, it feels just like a bunch of kids in their parents clothing.
With that said, I must say that Duchovony and Moore make a great on-screen duo and really swing for the fences. I loved how Duchovony allows the man-child to come out completely, but in such a way that he felt natural in a film that felt fake. I cringed at Crudup and Gyllenhaal's scenes because they have no chemestry or even a sense of timing with each other. I was hoping one or the other would leave for Toledo and never come back.
If there ever was a person that should be banished from behind the camera this year, it would be Bart Freundlich, who not only didn't try anything original, but should be spat on by any filmmaker who ever shot in New York. He's actually made the Big Apple even more unattractive than it already is, and not in an interesting way either. I hate the people that his New York is populated with and I have never felt that way about any movie before.
All in all, this is not a love letter, but more a Penthouse letter that so full of crap that you can't even enjoy it's stupidity. Thanks a lot, buddy. But I guess Des Moines sounds like a great place to visit this time of year. |
My Public Profile 
