Once an actress shows us she can act she forfeits her free passes for lightweight "Filmed at a 5-Star Resort" projects. Nicole ("The Stepford Wives", "Bewitched") Kidman, I'm talking to you. Charlize ("Sweet November", "Aeon Flux") Theron, now that Roger Ebert rightfully called your performance in "Monster" "one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema" you have used up your hallway passes.

Why? Because there are so few movie stars who can act.

Julianne Moore can act. She shouldn't be doing comedies or movies written for her by her husband. Her husband, Bart Freundlich, shouldn't be writing for her either. What is he going to do? Make her character unattractive? Give her character some unlikable human traits? Have her throw a fit? Because we know everything about Julianne and her 10 years younger Bart, we expect that as screenwriter, Bart has special insider information regarding the reality of living in the shadow of a famous actress. We think he's going to delve deep into their 2-career relationship. After all, he teases us with just enough autobiographical signposts.

Rebecca (Moore) is a famous movie star who is rehearsing a Broadway play. She lives in New York City with her husband Tom (David Duchovny) who stays at home watching their two small children. Tom is a sex-addict who spends nap-time watching internet porn. (Wasn't Duchovny rumored to be . . . wasn't his famous alter-ego Fox Mulder also addicted to porn?) Why did Freundlich feel it was necessary to pay tribute to Duchovny's former ladies-man reputation?

Rebecca and Tom have only two friends: Rebecca's slacker brother Tobey (Billy Crudup) and his long-suffering girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal). After seven years living together, Elaine is miserable because Tom refuses to marry her. She wants a baby. He wants to hang out in his car. Tobey has so many emotional issues that he is totally undesirable. However, he is very supportive of Elaine and is always kissing her. He also has the best lines of witty dialogue in the film and Crudup actually makes him likeable –as long as you don't want to marry him.

These four privileged New Yorkers piss, moan, and indulge themselves by chattering to their anal-retentive therapists. We are shocked to hear Tom complain Rebecca refuses to have sex with him (how mean!) but then she tells their therapist that he wants sex twice a day! She has lines to memorize and needs to pay the bills! Who'll be watching the babies?

And couldn't Crudup, savaged by the tabloids for his "selfish" personal life choices, contribute anything real here by way of character justification? Tobey just wants to do what he wants to do.

Regrettably, Duchovny likes his gossiped-about real-life proclivities and endowments, since he plays every movie role like a hungry wolf. Moore's character should have gotten a full-time nanny for the kids and a productive job for Tom-With-The-Wandering-Eye. Is Rebecca too self-involved to know her man? Or, was giving him the kids to watch an emasculating scheme? Of course not, since Rebecca is just a nice, hardworking gal (and the star of the movie written by her husband).

Tom soon comes across a single mom, played by the expressively sensuous Dagmara Dominczyk, and starts a hot affair. The beautiful Rebecca (and the star of the movie written by her husband) is also given a love-struck fan/suitor.

Tobey and Elaine split up and the four of them are miserable. But, since this is a romantic comedy, the guys suffer and can't live without their goddess women. "Trust the Man" gets sloppy, scatters, and droops off at the end with the typical cute movie ending. Simply put, "Trust the Man" is a chick flick without any revealing insights into relationships.

We at zboneman.com are excited to welcome the prolific and multi-talented writer Victoria Alexander to our staff. Critic for http://www.filmsinreview.com/ and pundit and humorist responsible for the candid and fearlessly funny "The Devil's Hammer," her column appears every Monday on http://fromthebalcony.com. Start off your week with a good hard laugh. It's a thrill to have her on board. Victoria Alexander answers every email and can be contacted directly at masauu@aol.com.)