This One is For the Ladies

Women in Trouble follows a variety of women through their daily lives. At any given point, at least one is in at least some degree of trouble. No, I don't mean a scolding or a damsel in distress. The most immediate and most recognizable one, albeit pretty hysterical, is porn star Elektra Luxx, played by Carla Gugino. She's getting work, she's the number one selling celebrity vagina mold domestically, but there's only one problem; she's pregnant. This is just one of the many women presented in the movie.

The movie flits from person to person with a certain ease. These women are all connected through varying degrees of separation, but it doesn't share the same characteristics of an interweaving movie. Most of them seem so strained, but Women in Trouble is relatively careless. There are moments of drama, or perhaps more accurately melodrama, but all in all, it's a pretty comedic film with a strong cast.

It's honestly the cast that makes the film. At times, the situations that Sebastian Gutierrez presents his audience with are hackneyed, but the actresses, and on occasion the actors, manage to breath life into it. The segment I'm thinking of involves Marley Shelton who is probably most memorable in Planet Terror. That movie showed us her ability to overact, which I'm hoping was the point, but I'd never seen Marley Shelton in a comedic light before. Even though most of the material in her segment was somewhat contrived and "been there, done that", I found it enjoyable because of her contribution to the movie.

One of the most charming things about Women in Trouble, besides its adorable vulgarity, is that the title is so misleading. When I first heard the name, I was expecting a standard interweaving drama about the mess that women make of their lives. Instead, even though all of these women encounter some danger in their lives, these are proud women. They don't need men to save them. They save themselves or when it comes down to the worst of it, there's always another woman to rely on them. So many films prop themselves under the guise of being feminist, but so few really are. Women in Trouble presents a variety of women, some more sordid than the others, but this film is a celebration of their lives.

The film is obviously not without its problems, but as a slice of life, interweaving movie it holds its own. With just the right blend of fantastic actresses and interesting characters, Women in Trouble is honestly unlike most movies I've seen. Women in Trouble is strong, proud, at the right times comedic and other times dramatic, but ultimately unforgettable.