Women in Trouble

Narrative Feature, Spotlight Premieres
D: Sebastian Gutierrez; with Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, Connie Britton, Josh Brolin, Simon Baker, Marley Shelton, Emmanuelle Chirqui, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sarah Clarke, Cameron Richardson

Before reaching the verge of a nervous breakdown, the subjects are generally women in trouble … and that’s more or less how it goes in this derivative comedy that might have been cobbled together from pages left over from some forgotten Pedro Almodóvar shoot. Writer/director Gutierrez is actually a pal and writing buddy of Almodóvar’s, so the influence is hardly a shocker. Although both filmmakers offer female ensembles a generosity of characters, Gutierrez’s women seem a bit wan by comparison. Still, Women in Trouble‘s canvas of intersecting characters can be a whole lot of fun, even if the women’s various predicaments don’t always follow through with the zaniness of their setups. A pregnant porn star, a sister with a secret about her niece, a trysting flight attendant, a couple of call girls, a therapist whose marriage is in crisis, and numerous others cross paths over the course of one day and night. Original music by Robyn Hitchcock helps brighten the mood.

This article appears in March 27 • 2009.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.