Trust Me

Movie Title--  Trust Me

Release Year--  2013

Running Time--  1 Hour and 30 Minutes

Director--  Clark Gregg

Cast--  Clark Gregg, Felicity Huffman, Allison Janney, Niecy Nash, Amanda Peet, Sam Rockwell, Saxon Sharbino, Paul Sparks

Howard Holloway is a down on his luck agent and ex child star that is looking for a break.  He finds it in the form of Lydia, a 13 year old prodigy and on the brink of closing a deal that will catapult them both in to the big time, he begins to realize that his young client may not be all that she seems.

Struggling talent agent Howard Holloway (Clark Gregg) can't ever seems to buy a break.  On an audition with one of his young clients, Howard offends casting director Meg (Allison Janney) and costs the boy the job.  His mother is outraged and fires Howard on the spot.  He then stumbles across Lydia (Saxn Sharbino), who immediately takes a liking to him and insists he be her agent, despite her father, Ray's (Paul Sparks), objection to him.  

Feeling that his luck was changing, he asks his neighbor, Marcy (Amanda Peet),  whom he has been interested in for a while to have dinner with him and surprising him, she agrees.  As they are closing the movie deal, Lydia reveals to Howard that she is being abused by her father and he feels like he can't let her continue living in a potentially harmful situation, so she helps to have her taken away from her father.  After hearing that this has cost her the role of a lifetime, Lydia flees, causing a final confrontation to occur at the theater where they are unveiling the characters for the movie.

This movie was a little strange.  I think that Clark Gregg did a great job and that his young co-star Saxon Sharbino did as equally well but although the story is sad, it wasn't very strong.  Don't get me wrong, I don't regret sitting through the film but I think that a stronger story would have helped the film seem more believable.  Also, even though I liked Clark Gregg's performance, he did seem to come off as a little awkward and even almost a little cliche.  He has the appearance of one of the only good guys left in Hollywood, so at times the way he acts almost reflects that, the character of Howard Holloway seems to keep up the good guy act even when he doesn't have to, and it comes off very disingenuous.  

Overall it was predictable.  Although the film shows you the end at the beginning, after Howard meets Lydia, it isn't very hard to see how their relationship leads to it.  The strongest acting in the world could not have supported this story to make it a hit but I do feel it is worth the watch.  As you do watch it, you can't help but feel bad for Howard.  If you decide to watch this one, Don't Forget the Popcorn.