Review of Women in Trouble (2009) by Lorenzo V — 16 Feb 2010

"High Hopes, High Anxiety, High Heels.".

A serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate women: a porn star, a flight attendant, a psychiatrist, a masseuse, a bartender, a pair of call girls, etc. All of them with one crucial thing in common. Trouble.

REVIEW.

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 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.