David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Eva Mendes walk on eggshells around each other in the subtle comedy Trust the Man.
Manhattan plays front and center to 2 couples finding themselves at crossroads in their relationship. Married with two children, Tom and Rebecca (David Duchovney and Julianne Moore) find themselves drifting apart. They act like nothing is wrong, even though Tom's boring routine life of a stay-at-home dad causes him to stray, while Rebecca busies herself acting in a play. Rebecca's brother, Tobey (played by Billy Crudup) is a writer whose self-absorbed, fatalistic nature is tolerated by his longtime girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who suddenly realizes she wants to get married and have kids.
I neither liked it, nor hated it. The writing and performances were above average for a quiet film and I appreciated that despite setting it in the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, there were times of deep reflection into each character. The emotional journeys were very easy to relate to which is perhaps the reason why I didn't appreciate the gift wrapped ending - an ending which I felt was dismissive to certain characters.
20th Century Fox releases the film on a flipper disc so you can choose between Widescreen and Full Screen viewing with Deleted scenes, a Making Of and Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Bart Freundlich and David Duchovny.
