For a sex comedy, Bart Freundlich's fourth feature Trust the Man takes many of its cues from 1980s-era Woody Allen, but is neither as sexy nor as funny as intended. It's the tale of two couples. Rebecca (Julianne Moore, Freundlich's real-life wife) is an actress. Her husband, Tom (David Duchovny, Moore's Evolution co-star), is a stay-at-home dad, much like Patrick Wilson's character in the considerably darker Little Children. The Manhattan dwellers have two kids. Fellow New Yorker Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring author, lives with Rebecca's brother, Tobey (Billy Crudup, sporting an ill-advised goatee), a sports writer. They've been together for seven years. Elaine is ready for marriage and a baby; Toby, not so much. Both men have roving eyes, Tom for single mother Pamela (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Tobey for ex-girlfriend Faith (Eva Mendes), a newlywed. Rebecca and Elaine, in their sincerity, may be more sympathetic, but all they ever seem to talk about is their unsatisfactory sex lives. Naturally, something has to give and it does--for all four. On the downside, Trust the Man finds Freundlich in a bit of a holding pattern. In retrospect, domestic drama The Myth of Fingerprints, Freundlich's first film, is still the writer/director's best. Though James LeGros and Duchovny pal Garry Shandling provide amusing cameos, the main reason to catch Trust the Man is for Duchovny himself in his most fully realized role since the inimitable Agent Fox Mulder--oddly likable despite his many faults. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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