To watch a good movie you must have the right equipment. A nice sound processor connected to kicking speakers are an absolute must. Add a 200 Watt 17 inch powered sub and you’ve increased the experience ten fold. Wrap it all up with a sweet DLP HD monitor and you now have everything you need – except of course a good movie. Trust The Man is everything but. All you need here is a good supply of insulin and an IV drip to keep you from lapsing into a sugar coma. I’m not talking peanut butter cup melts in your mouth sweet. I’m talking pure concentrated syrup makes you want to hurl sweet.
“A Fart is just as good as a burp”. This is the kind of wit and wisdom you can expect from Trust The Man. The film didn’t do very well in its very short theatrical run, and I expect it to fail just as miserably on DVD. The film is an obvious Woody Allen ripoff. The entire concept is the uneven relationship between two related couples and their various romantic problems. The problem is the film never goes anywhere. All we really know is that Rebecca (Moore) is a washed up actress who apparently doesn’t find her husband Tom (Duchovny) exciting any longer. Tom is basically looking for action and talks way too much about his bodily functions. As a long time X-Files fan I love Duchovny, but this is pitiful stuff. To further complicate this drivel, we find that Rebecca’s brother Tobey (Crudup) is having commitment troubles with his 7 year girlfriend Elaine (Gyllenhaal) That’s all, folks. We suffer through endless moments of pure dialogue that never goes anywhere. The ending is the most contrived nonsense I’ve seen in some time. Basically this movie goes nowhere, and very slowly. Like a nagging toothache, this film is quite painful. Fortunately, relief won’t require a visit to your dentist. My discomfort faded wonderfully with the end credits.
Video
Lucky dogs that you are, you can watch Trust The Man in both a full frame and original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The disc is a flipper providing both options. I went with the wide, but I honestly doubt there was any difference. The presentation is average or below in almost every way. Contrast is a bit dark throughout. Fortunately black levels are adequate, so detail doesn’t suffer much. There are no print or compression artifacts to deal with. Color, like everything else, was very much average to a fault.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation was completely wasted on a film with nothing but dialogue. I suppose it shines in that respect, as it was all quite clear and evident in the center where it should be. Problem is, with very little exception there is nothing happening anywhere else in the mix.
You’ll find a rather spotty and boring audio commentary by David Duchovny and director Bart Freundlich. Both do a good job of hiding their embarrassment with the finished product. There are moments of uneasy silence or throat clearing that offer a hint of what they must know is a sad work of art.
Special Features
- “Deleted Scenes” There are four deleted scenes that offer nothing more of value to the film. Unless you call watching two doctors laughing at Tom’s ringing testicles a riot, why expose yourself to even more of this crap? An optional commentary is provided, and a play all option as well.
- “Reel Love” At least they admit to ripping off Woody here. Pretty much about 12 minutes of self-congratulatory claptrap.
Final Thoughts
I guess my sensibilities are biased, clouded, my wife might say – by my being, well, a guy. Still, even she had to admit this was a grossly bad film by any measure. Take a warning, guys. This is a film you simply will never be able to like, so avoid this one or you might be made to squirm a little in your seat. I’ll admit I don’t like romantic comedies; they make me uncomfortable. That doesn’t make me a bad guy. Hey, “It’s not like I like to kill baby squirrels.”
