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'Trust the Man,' not the ending

You know that feeling when you are enjoying a smart, funny film so much that you root for it not to use up its goodwill with a cornball ending?

One such film is Trust the Man, a likable stroll down familiar New York City terrain with two handsome couples who run into relationship trouble largely because the guys, although nearing 40, behave childishly. Both pairs break apart over infidelity or immaturity by the men, but writer-director Bart Freundlich gives his movie the sort of tidy wrap-up that smacks of sitcoms.

Fox Searchlight 'Trust the Man' B- The verdict: An upscale urban comedy of relationship woes among the beautiful people, with a painfully false ending. Director: Bart Freundlich Starring: Julianne Moore, David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eva Mendes Run time: 100 minutes Release date: August 18, 2006 Rating: Rated R for language and sexual content. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Trust the Man'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Trust the Man runs 103 minutes. Is there any way I can persuade you to keep an eye on your watches and get up out of your seats at the 93-minute mark and leave the theater? Trust me, you'll have a better time if you do.

The main characters are all attractive, well-educated and highly verbal, the sort of folks that Woody Allen used to populate his New York stories with. They make wisecracks about the Serengetti and Ferlinghetti, live in tony Greenwich Village and Tobey (Billy Crudup) is so preoccupied with death that he probably is a fugitive from an Allen movie.

In fact, Tobey is a freelance sports writer, living with Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a children's book wannabe, who really wants marriage and a child from Tobey after seven years together. He remains oblivious to her spousal and maternal urges, since he is so preoccupied with alternate-side-of-the-street parking.

His older sister Rebecca (Julianne Moore, Freundlich's real-life wife) is a movie star sacrificing for her art by taking a role in a Lincoln Center play. She has two small children with her husband, Tom (David Duchovny), an advertising copy writer who came up with the "Got Milk?" campaign. He has paused in his career to become a Mr. Mom, while complaining of a stronger sex drive than Rebecca, which he remedies with online porn and eventually with an affair with a divorced mother he encounters at his son's school.

Tobey and Tom, recognizing themselves as kindred spirits, are best friends, but when Rebecca catches on to Tom's infidelity, Tobey proves to be a dreadful liar on his pal's behalf. The women are so sisterly that Rebecca tries to fix Elaine up with a former college boyfriend, a randy musician-minister.

Eventually, Elaine settles for an oddly accented fellow, apparently out of convenience and the fact that he is physically well endowed. Still, we sense that she should be with Tobey, if for no other reason than that Gyllenhaal and Crudup have equal billing.

Freundlich's script has plenty of sharp, quippy dialogue that turns a bit serious when Tom and Tobey become suddenly enlightened. His idealized New York has immaculate sidewalks, but his geography seems faulty when Rebecca strolls from Sardi's back to Lincoln Center on a lunch break.

Add in cameos for the likes of Ellen Barkin, Garry Shandling, Eva Mendes and Bob Balaban and you have an above-average diversion that should have been better than it is.