If you look at “Trust the Man” with the Hollywood filter, it is the quintessential independent film. It stars the darlings of the indie cinema: Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup. It’s got star power: David Duchovny and Eva Mendes. It’s about relationships and infidelity. It’s got everything it needs.

However, it doesn’t’ really have a spark that will make it leap from the indie world into the mainstream.

Even as an independent film, it falters. While it’s got plenty of banter against the backdrop of New York, “Trust the Man” betrays itself with a saccharine ending and weak characters. There’s no real direction of the story and very little in terms of what it is trying to say. At first, I though the message was the standard “men are cheating pigs” sort of thing, but that doesn’t hold water throughout the film.

“Trust the Man” tells the story of two brothers, Tom (David Duchovny) and Tobey (Billy Crudup), who have severe relationship problems. Tom, who is married to mid-list theatre actress Rebecca (Julianne Moore), looks for excitement from his stay-at-home-dad life. Tobey has a problem fully committing to his live-in girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

We follow each couple through therapy, affairs, break-ups and practically every relationship issue you can think of. As things move on in their lives, they must learn to commit, recommit and respect both people in the relationship.

Overall, the performances are fine, and that’s not surprising considering the cast. However, the performances don’t save the choppy script. Sadly, the appearance of David Duchovny in a film without the letter X prominently displayed seems to be a warning sign.

One of my biggest gripes with independent films focusing on relationship issues is that the filmmakers usually get the relationships wrong. I’m sure that the events in the films mirror partially (or completely, in some cases) the relationship hurdles that the writer or director has faced. However, these are usually so angsty and worrisome that the average person in America just can’t relate.

And speaking as a stay-at-home dad myself, I couldn’t buy his affair. Why is it I never met the incredibly sensual, undersexed supermodel at my son’s preschool? At certain points, this film just lost its grip on reality.

The casting of Julianne Moore is rarely a problem in a movie, however, if it’s her husband doing the job, there are potholes to be found. Moore’s hubby Bart Freundlich admits in his commentaries that he based certain scenes on real events in their lives. However, these scenes just seem out of place and don’t make any sense in the grand scheme of the film.

The DVD comes with audio commentary by director Bart Freundlich and David Duchovny, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes with audio commentary and both full frame and widescreen presentations of the film.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Full screen (1.33:1) and widescreen (2.35:1) – Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Spanish language track. French and Spanish subtitles. English subtitles for the hearing impaired.