Women In Trouble
Year: 2009
Directors: Sebastian Gutierrez
Stars: Carla Gugino, Connie Britton, Adrianne Palicki
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Screen Media Films
Running Time: 92 Mins
Sebastian Gutierrez first caught my attention with his screenplay for the 2003 remake “Gothika”, a surprising very good horror film. Lately he has been making the transition to focusing everything towards writing and directing his own projects. “Women In Trouble” is his fourth film.
The film follows seven women thought a day of trouble in the city of Los Angeles. A therapist (Sarah Clarke) discovers that her husband (Simon Baker) is cheating on her with the mother of her thirteen year old patient (Isabella Gutierrez). A porn star (Carla Gugino) who finds out that she’s pregnant and to make matter worse, she is trapped in an elevator with a woman (Connie Britton) who has been hiding a secret from her niece. An adult film actress (Adrianne Palicki), who has feeling for her best friend (Emmanuelle Chriqui), gets into some deep trouble with a couple of hitmen. An airline attendant (Marley Shelton) who get into an affair with a rock star (Josh Brolin). This leads to a crazy day for everyone involved.
“Woman in Trouble” is surprisingly entertaining little film considering that I had low expectations. The reason that this is surprising, Gutierrez keeps everything moving at a good pace, considering that there are three stories going on at the same time. By keeping everything moving and setting a tone where the actors bring energy into their characters, it makes you get caught with the characters and everything that goes in the film. Another thing that makes this direction good was Gutierrez’s ability to not get too crazy with the way that he directs some of the sexual material in the film. He takes a more tone down approach in the way that he handles it and it fits with the film’s tone. If he had taken the film down a raunchy route with the sex material then I would’ve had a different opinion of everything that happens in the film. It doesn’t and I liked the fact that he doesn’t make the sex aspects the focal point. Instead he makes the characters and acting, the film’s focal points.
Speaking of the acting, it’s the strongest strength this film has. I liked how Gutierrez get his actors to be interested in the material and not make it one of those films, where it has an all star cast and they are there to just to have a good time and work with one another. Besides the acting, this film also has a very good score by Robin Hitchcock. His score also helps gets you into the groove of the film, as it helps the film become energetic with all the action that is going on.
Another thing that makes this film fun to watch was Gutierrez screenplay. The screenplay does a good job making everything come together, considering this film has multiple plot lines. Gutierrez makes all the characters interesting and the action work, by intersecting the characters into each of various plot lines and making work within the confines of the story. By doing that it does two things, it makes the film entertaining and develops the characters to the point that you find them interesting and entertaining. He also does a good job making the story and the characters offbeat. This is what made this film appealing to me. This is the type of film that could have easily put me to sleep considering that this film feels more of a chick flick than a comedy. But it’s Gutierrez’s ability to have this sense of offbeat dialogue and humor in the action and the characters to grab my attention. That makes it fun to watch.
“Women in Trouble” does a good job not getting into trouble, as this a film that does a good job making the characters and offbeat action entertaining.
Review Rating: Four Stars
This is a great little film.
Really enjoyed it.
Wonderful review!!