Trust

 Trust 2010

• Director: David Schwimmer
• Seen by this director: some episodes of Friends
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Clive Owen, Liana Liberato, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, Jason Clarke, Tristan Peach
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Men, Derailed, Closer, Gosford Park, Croupier
• Catherine Keener – Enough Said, The Soloist, Genova, Into the Wild, Full Frontal, Being John Malkovich, Johnny Suede
• Viola Davis – Widows, Fences, The Suicide Squad, Get on Up, Ender’s Game, Beautiful Creatures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Solaris, Antwone Fisher, Far from Heaven, Kate & Leopold
• Jason Clarke – First Man, Public Enemies, Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Why? Owen and Davis
• Seen: 2 September 2022      

       Will (Owen) is a happy American (well, British) dad who dotes on his daughter Annie (Liberato), a seemingly typical teen-aged girl. She’s insecure and emotional and she has a chat boyfriend Charlie (Peach) that she pours her heart out to. And, of course, he turns out to be a middle-aged sexual predator who lures her into a hotel room and rapes her. In complete denial she insists that he loves her and hates her best friend for reporting it, her parents for refusing to believe her, and the police for insisting he’s a criminal.

       The film has an important message, and many viewers gave it top ratings and called it a must-see, but I found it heavy-handed and contrived. Still, if it helps parents keep track of what their kids are up to and kids themselves not to be so gullible, it’s doing a good deed. 

2 ½ * of 5