Trust the Man 2005

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: Trust the Man could easily carry the following subtitle: Men Who Behave Like Petulant, Spoiled Children and the Women Who Decide It's Easier to Love Them As-Is Than To Try to Turn Them Into Grownups. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: For all the promise of a cast led by Julianne Moore and David Duchovny in an urbane, adult chronicle of love and marriage, the movie just strings viewers along through phony contrivance, like any other romantic comedy. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: I saw this at a festival and hated it, then sat through it again a year later and decided it wasn't so bad, aside from the god-awful ending. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Freundlich's outstanding cast (including Garry Shandling, Eva Mendes, Ellen Barkin, Bob Balaban and James LeGros) -- his best since 1997's The Myth of Fingerprints -- glosses over miscalculations with sheer star power. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Trust the Man has a sketchy overall feel, as if Freundlich didn't finish thinking it through. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Trying to mimic the Woody Allen films is not a bad thing to do, but why not put a spin on it? Read more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: The film presents itself as a funny, insightful Manhattan relationship comedy in Woody Allen mode, but morphs into the phoniest of Hollywood rom-coms. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: There's nothing terribly wrong with this comedy about the romantic dalliances of four New Yorkers, but there's nothing terribly right about it, either. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Is this farce, drama, satire? Who knows? Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: The actors gamely keep up their spirits, but the male characters are too one-dimensional and the female characters too bizarrely divorced from reality to be at all engaging. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: I wish the film were true to itself and its quartet of puzzled, struggling lovers; their collapse into sitcom idiocy felt uncomfortably close to betrayal. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: If a movie that uses the word 'relationship' 7,000 times puts your teeth on edge, stay away. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Don't hate them because they're beautiful. On second thought, go right ahead. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A lot more smug and a lot less insightful than writer-director Bart Freundlich apparently assumes, and it's burdened even more by its surfeit of unsympathetic characters. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Screenwriter and director Bart Freundlich fails to offer fresh insights into the problems of contemporary relationships, and many of his comic targets are easy and conventional. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Pity the poor Hollywood husband, trudging along in the shadow of his famous wife while nursing underappreciated artistic ambitions of his own. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The fact that Freundlich tries to put some thoughtful commentary into a formulaic story is commendable, but in the end either his faith wavers or the studio intervened. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Trust the Man is a mildly amusing movie, but that's chiefly a result of its stars -- or, more specifically, its female stars -- elevating the material. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: In the end, you're left feeling a little empty, as if you've been eavesdropping on a conversation in a restaurant and neglected to eat your dinner. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Opening a film with a small child straining on a toilet and talking about poop isnt just a bad idea; its an invitation to unfortunate metaphor. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Two couples in trouble, one with kids, another considering them. Writer-director Bart Freundlich's challenge is to stress them and find a resolution to their conflicts in ways that aren't banal, predictable or witless. And he settles for one out of three. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Like a few too many of this year's adult offerings, this one is a diversion. It's not unpleasant, but it doesn't offer a 'must see' night at the movies. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: A romantic comedy by design, a form of torture in practice, and an atomic-strength antidote to the romantic impulse in effect. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: It's a pity, because few romcoms pull off the basically sympathetic mining of personal vanities and social embarrassment that the film manages in its opening hour. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This comedy about two self-absorbed New York couples feels like wan Woody Allen. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Unfortunately in this New York, no crisis is insurmountable, and no upscale downtown restaurant is deprived of product placement. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: [The] characters don't mean anything because they don't say anything or do anything that feels rooted in the nitty-gritty of the everyday. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: With its self-conscious literary references and trendy settings, Trust the Man quickly begins to feel hopelessly derivative of other, better movies. Read more