take the trouble to do something

13. PHRASE : V inflects, usu PHR to-inf, oft with brd-neg

If you take the trouble to do something, you do something which requires a small amount of additional effort.

• He did not take the trouble to see the film before he attacked it.
  

... Cobuild

take the trouble (to do something): 

to make an effort to do something (that one might not otherwise do). 

• I wish I had taken the trouble to study this matter more carefully.
• I just didn't have enough time to take the trouble.
  

...http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/take+the+trouble

cf. 

(Am-Heritage) 4.

Effort, especially when inconvenient or bothersome: went to a lot of trouble to find this book.

(Collins Essential) 5. 

effort or exertion to do something: they didn't even take the trouble to see the film before banning it.