There's a lot to like about this movie, but by the end it left me exhausted and more than a little bored…and not just because its lack of plot left it sputtering to an anti-climactic ending. Women in Trouble repeats the same narrative dynamic over and over and over again until it has wrung every bit of dramatic juice out, leaving behind a dry and twisted up story that desperately needs a jolt of something to keep the viewer engaged.The film is about what happens in the interconnected lives of a group of women on a single day. Unfortunately, while 10 different women and 1 girl are spotlighted, only three of them actually have a story to tell. Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino) is a porn star who finds out she's pregnant and doesn't know if she should keep it or even tell the father. Doris (Connie Britton) is a woman feuding with her sister and keeping a secret about her niece. She gets stuck in a hot elevator with Elektra. Maxine is a therapist who discovers that her husband is having an affair with Doris' sister. While other women are focused on equally, they're really just filler or playing a part in the lives of Elektra, Doris and Maxine.The good about Women in Trouble is there are several women who parade around in relatively little clothing and there's some nice acting on display. Most of the characters, even the ultimately unimportant ones, are given long and meaty stretches of dialog to chew their way through. There's also some salty language, but that comes off like a cross between Sex and the City and the Jersey Shore. If you're a fan of pretty and talented actress getting a chance to shine, you'll find a lot of that to enjoy here.Unfortunately, almost every single scene in this movie boils down to the same thing. It's two people sitting on their butts while they talk and talk and talk and talk. This thing is so wordy it would even make Kevin Smith yell "Shut up already!" at the screen. This script could be performed on the radio and almost nothing would be missed. Instead of a motion picture, writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez has made a static picture. While all that stationary emoting is fun to look at for a while, there comes a point where you want the characters to do a cartwheel, dance a jig, pick a fight or just move in some way. And after seeing the same two-person dynamic play out for the 5th or 6th time, you start asking "What else is there?" only to find there isn't anything else here.Women in Trouble doesn't feel like a single story. It feels like watching an audition reel where a series of actresses are doing a bunch of random screen tests, hoping they can catch some studio executive's eye. Some of them are eye-catching but it's just hard to get through them all in one sitting.If you don't care about plot and do like ogling attractive women, you'll have a good time with this movie. For the rest of us, Women in Trouble is an equally entertaining and grueling experience.

An odd but strangely compelling indie comedy, "Women in Trouble" does just what the title suggests; it puts an assortment of lovely ladies into humorously dire predicaments. Two women, Connie Britton ("Friday Night Lights") and the newly pregnant porn star Elektra (Carla Gogina), are stuck together in a stalled elevator; Adrianne Palicki (also of "Friday Night Lights") and Emmanuelle Chrichi are sex workers who witness a crime and have to run to safety; Sarah Clarke ("24") is a therapist whose husband ("The Mentalist"'s Simon Baker) is having an affair with one of her patients; and Marley Shelton is an engaged stewardess who's unfortunate enough to have the rock star (Josh Brolin) who's performing sex on her in the airplane bathroom die when the plane hits turbulence. The story lines, which seem disparate at first glance, do manage to dovetail into one another by movie's end.As written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, the situations are played for both humor and sentiment, as we get to see just some of the absurd things women are forced to go through on a daily basis. And in each case, it seems, the women who are "in trouble" are aided by other women who are in trouble, essentially leading to a special bond of womanhood that helps get them through tough times. The dialogue is generally sharp and witty without ever becoming denigrating or smart-alecky, and the situations the women find themselves in are just absurd enough to keep them from becoming soap-operatic but realistic enough to make us care.As with most movies that engage in multiple plot lines, some of the stories and some of the scenes are better than others, and, honestly, the film might have benefited from a little less cleverness and a little more focus overall. Still, it has its moments.

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.