If you think scatological humor, throwing up, infidelity, lame dialogue and cliché characters who never seem authentic might entertain you, then Trust the Man is worth checking out. If not, please cross this one off your “to see” list, for it’s not even worth a video rental.

The film’s four main characters are all accomplished actors, so I wonder if director Bart Freundlich had something on each one in order to imprison them in these roles. Julianne Moore plays Rebecca, an actress married to Tom (David Duchovny), who is Mr. Mom and stays home to take care of their children. Their best friends are Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Tobey (Billy Crudup). Elaine is a wannabe children's book writer, who has been living with Tobey, Rebecca's brother, for several years.

All four of these people have problems. Tom, a sex addict, spends his Mr. Mom days looking up porn on the internet and practically raping his wife every time she approaches him. He disregards the children most of the time and eventually has an affair with the mother of one his son's classmates. His wife doesn't seem to know what she wants in life, but she’s sure it's not the current situation she’s living in. Rebecca and Elaine are best friends who often confide in each other. Elaine wants to get married and have a family, but Tobey does not. He's a magazine writer who's so unbalanced he crunches up in his car with his laptop to write.

Basically Trust the Man is a film about four people whose relationships aren’t working, and with little incentive to interest us in each character, we don't care if they do. The actors seem to be merely going through the paces, especially Billy Crudup, whose talent and abilities are so far beyond this role it's sad to watch him here.

I think the only thing you can be sure of with Trust the Man is that it will be a waste of your money. (Capsule review)

(Released by Fox Searchlight and rated “R” for language and sexual content.)

Read Diana Saenger’s reviews of classic films at http://classicfilm.about.com.