Women in Trouble (2009)

Too much of everything

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Gugino, Palicki, Britton and Chriqui. Nice! But then, also Isabelle Gutierrez. Oh no. Nepotism deals another blow.Not one, not two, not three, but four terrific-looking, sexy actresses in this one, and that's reason alone to watch almost any movie. After all, who wants to see Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Kathy Bates and Anjelica Huston in some damn overrated chick-flick-masquerading-as-deep-drama garbage? Not me. I'd rather see Palicki, Britton, Gugino and Chriqui - in just about anything (or preferably out of it).I do have some beef though with the utterly inane casting of Britton's daughter. Does Connie look like she could possibly give birth to THAT? One look at Isabelle and you just know she's a nepotistically infiltrated stink-bomb of the worst kind. The kid can't act to save her chubby, thin-lipped life, and looks more like something that would spring out of the fawlty loins of a Laura Dern or Jennifer Aniston than a freckled beauty like Britton.Isabelle Gutierrez, to be exact. Guess who wrote/directed/produced WIT? Sebastian Gutierrez. Just like an incurable optimist to cast his own daughter/niece/whatever, hoping to launch a huge but unlaunchable Hollywood career. This girl doesn't have a shot in Hell. In order to make it looking like that (and acting like a rank amateur), she'd need to be no less than the love-child of Stevie Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. That's the only kind of nepotism that would guarantee her a film career. In fact, the result of such an unholy union would guarantee ANYONE a film career, no matter how bad they are or what they look like.Seb, if you're going to make the fatal error of casting your robotic, wooden-faced, non-expressive, apathetic daughter/niece/whatever in a major film, you might at least make an effort in helping her understand that when she plays the young daughter/niece of a badly-wounded film character that she ought to show at least a smidgen of emotion related to having a close family member lying hurt in a hospital. Capito? Isabelle reacts without emotion to having her mother/aunt lying in hospital all banged up, and yet only minutes later the director expects us to get emotionally involved in a scene in which Britton prepares to announce to Isabelle that she is her mother. If Isabelle didn't care about her "former" mother's car-crash then how the Hell will she care about who her real mother is! Duh.Speaking of nepotism, Josh Brolin. Josh Brolin doing an English accent. Need I even mention how horrible he's done it? I just did. Josh Brolin getting knocked off only 5 minutes after his first appearance: now, that was a nice touch. I was afraid I might have to watch him for an extensive period, as a major character in this rather enjoyable (semi-)comedy – which would then have become significantly less enjoyable had his presence extended beyond those mercifully short minutes (made a little sweeter through that blond actress).Although all four above-mentioned beauties are very good in WIT, I would stick out Adrienne Palicki, with her funny portrayal of a semi-retarded porno actress. Plus, in spite of being much taller than the other three, she managed to come off as the cutest one. Very tall yet cute? Not a mean feat by any means. Producers should be hyping Palicki, showering her with movie offers right now, instead of focusing all their undivided attention on the promotion of various mediocre nepotistic offspring such as Olivia Wilde or Zooey Dechanel. But that's how cinema and TV work; you scratch my kid's back, I scratch your kid's back. All in the family, and right into the sewer goes the quality.It's unfortunate that Gutierrez chose to let the comedy take a backseat to schmaltzy, totally needless drama. Seb, if you stick 4-5 beauties into a movie then that means you're catering to a MALE audience, not a female one. Sticking women no-one wants to see, such as Streep, Close or Dern - THAT would be targeting a female audience, and then you could make it all drama as far as I'm concerned (coz I wouldn't' watch it anyway, obviously). Your male viewers don't want soppy drama, they want something a little more entertaining and intelligent than that. (Yes, even f**t jokes are more intellectually stimulating than a woman crying in front of the camera.)The last third of WIT sees the movie coming to a standstill almost, with a lot of tiresome sobbing and needless hugging. This, and Isabelle Gutierrez, are the reasons I rated WIT lower than I otherwise would have. .

True to its title, 2009's "Women In Trouble" is about a bunch of women in an assortment of trouble. The film begins with two women inside a Mexican jail, which turns out to be a film-with-a-film parody sequence of an exploitation movie. You eventually realize that the whole 90 minute feature is self-reflexive parody; although much more subtle than the opening.Think the Coen Brothers with group of characters speaking out-of-place dialogue in a lot of unusual situations. Think Seinfeld with a lot of disparate pieces in some way related to each other, with the connections eventually coming into focus. Think "The Hours" (2002) with a group of vaguely uneasy women exploring the mysteries of female discontent and finding some solace from shared confidences.Not a lot of physical humor, nor good acting, nor impressive production design. The writing is the strength of the production and it is excellent. If you don't get subtle parody you would be wise to stay away because there isn't much here for you. You are not the target audience. The only exception would be Marley Shelton fans. She has a very entertaining and clever 10-minute sequence, and looks incredibly hot in a tight flight attendant uniform. For her fans this is a must see even if most of the other material is not their cup of tea.Those knocking the film simply failed to make the necessary connection with the material, so I wouldn't put much stock in the negative comments and reviews unless they are from someone who tends to mirror your own preferences.Special features on the DVD includes deleted scenes, a satirical interview that runs after the credits, and Spanish subtitles; given the audio quality and the essential importance of the dialogue the money would have been much better spent on English subtitles.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Women in Trouble is not an exploitation film, or even a parody of one. It's a remarkably clever, literate, surreal comedy-drama that just happens to be set in a daffy world inspired by the culture of trashy porn. Like Pulp Fiction, it twines together a number of overheated and seemingly disconnected narratives. But the comparison is totally unfair - to Tarantino, who, for all his cleverness, will never make a movie as emotionally involving as this one. Or as funny.It would be almost impossible to summarize this film, or convey its weird charm in a few words. So I won't try. I will warn that a lot of the story hinges on sex - without being *about* sex. Like the best European farces, it takes sex for granted, and never blushes. But it takes that attitude to the next level. Even if you feel you're sexually liberated, you'll need to check your own lingering hangups at the door, in order to keep up with this extremely engaging group of ladies.This is hands-down one of my favorite films of the past year or two, and that's regardless of budget. See it with an open mind. And be prepared to laugh, cry and be amazed.

This movie works sort of like "Crash" or "Magnolia", with different characters having their own story lines that turn out to be related to each other in some way, and intersect at certain points in the film. Also like Magnolia, there's a lot of self-discovery and unburdening of the heart. It's about two thirds drama, layered within outrageous situations and humor. There are a lot of characters. I don't know how the writer kept them all straight. There's a porn star, a prostitute, a porn star/prostitute, a therapist, a flight attendant, a masseuse, and a couple others. Some of these are strangers at first, but form strong bonds, resulting, I think, from some natural female instinct to support each other in crisis. I'd like to run down the various crises they deal with, but to avoid spoiling things I'll just say they involve being stuck in an elevator, infidelity, porn, lesbian relationships, bestiality, and unusual sexual dysfunction, to name a few.This movie basically ends up being about womanly camaraderie, and the bond that ties all women in all walks of life together, I think. However, it's also got enough sex talk, women in underwear, zany situations, and even a degree of bathroom humor, that'll keep guys interested. It's also a great story with an outstanding script and superb performances that combined to have me completely absorbed by the end. I'm a guy, in case that wasn't clear.I have to extend extra-special props to Adrianne Palicki (Holly, the call girl/porn actress), who had a provocative monologue near the middle of the movie that was impeccably and movingly delivered. I was completely entranced.PS. Keep watching after the credits. There's a cute little satirical interview with the "porn stars", conducted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's not quite up to the level of the material in the rest of the movie (probably why it was placed after the credits), but still worth watching.