As romantic comedies go Bart Freundlich's Trust the Man ticks most, if not all the boxes.

It possesses all the highs, lows, predictable jokes, laments over cups of coffee, displays of jealousy and the inevitable conversation on fate. Whilst he does manage to extract a few laughs courtesy of some snappy dialogue, such moments are simply too brief and any potential is soon buried in syrupy sentiment and cliché.

Essentially a romantic comedy with an undertone of seriousness, the film looks at the lives of four New Yorkers. Rebecca (Julianne Moore) is a successful actress who is married to Tom, (David Duchovny) an unemployed stay at home Dad who takes care of house duties in between flirting with his son's friend's Mum.

Tobey, Rebecca's younger brother (played by an on-song Billy Crudup) is a directionless thirty-something who is petrified of committing to his commitment-craving girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring novelist who is keen to start a family.

Suffice to say, it isn't long before their respective lives unravel. Fractured by sex addictions, burgeoning careers and indecisiveness, each character is soon at a crossroads, Tom and Tobey are left to dissect their problems together, while Elaine and Rebecca try to figure theirs out.

As well-heeled inherently selfish individuals who indulge their whims and pursue their own agendas, it can feel a little hard engaging with the "modern day New Yorker", yet Freundlich to his credit somehow makes us sympathetic to their foibles and weaknesses, even making the act of infidelity seem uncontroversial and relatively inoffensive.

This is not to say the film is devoid of humour. Tom's confession at a sex addict's seminar deserves a mention, as does Crudup's lambasting of Elaine's new "sprocket" boyfriend (who bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the nihilists in The Big Lebowski. ) Sadly however, they are too few and far between, Freundlich succumbing to puerile toilet humour once too often in an effort to try and buoy the light heartedness of the film.

On a positive note, the actors appear relaxed in their roles, their exchanges unforced and natural throughout, bolstered in turn by a number of amusing, sometimes perplexing cameos – ranging from an underused Garry Shandling to a saucy Ellen Barkin and a hilarious James LeGros.

In short, Trust the Man is a light hearted, if predictable, tale of four vaguely amusing New Yorkers. It's true that the neatness with which their dilemmas are resolved is ultimately rather disappointing, especially given the potential the film had to go a little further, but this comes as little surprise. It's a well paced film, with a few laughs and some credible performances.

As romantic comedies go, it's certainly not the worst—a long way from the heights of Manhattan, but not quite plumbing the depths of Gigli.