Women in Trouble (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Trailer-for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	91:43 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (66:30)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Sebastian Gutierrez
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Carla Gugino Adrianne Palicki Connie Britton Marley Shelton Cameron Richardson Garcelle Beauvais Caitlin Keats
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	Robyn Hitchcock

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes, although it is imaginary smoking!
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    "Adult Film" star Electra Luxx (Carla Gugino) realises her career may be over when she discovers she is pregnant with her ex-lover, rock star Nick Chapel (Josh Brolin's) child. Her day goes from bad to worse when she is trapped in an elevator with cranky Doris (Connie Britto) who herself is having a bad day as she argues with her sister about her niece Charlotte's (Isabella Gutierrez) need to talk to a shrink. That shrink is Maxine (Sarah Clarke); her day takes a turn for the worst when Charlotte points out that her mother is sleeping with Maxine's husband (Simon Baker). Maxine goes on a bender to commiserate along with two girls-for-hire, Bambi (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki), who are on the run from mobsters after they witness a mob hit on one of their clients. As bad as being on the run from mobsters sounds, in Holly Rocket's eyes her bad day is all because she didn't get to go down on Electra Luxx on set at the start of the day...

    Joseph Gordon-Levitt, despite being prominently credited, only pops up in a brief scene after the credits.

     The film's R rating, along with its many adult film star and hooker characters is likely to create spurious expectations of sex and nudity. Don't be fooled, Women in Trouble is pretty tame stuff. The film features a moderate amount of talking about such deeds and the odd implication of them occurring but nothing particularly close to occurring on-screen. The film would be M-rated if not for a rather descriptive conversation about a girl and her dog, the likes of which are no worse than the implied dog-licking that is actually acted out in Van Wilder. Then again, where did consistency ever get a censorship board?

     Women in Trouble is an interesting ensemble piece poorly told. The script is reasonably well written and tells an interesting-enough series of overlapping tales, though at times they are a little contrived and are frequently clichéd. The actors, virtually all of whom are at least recognisable B-listers, vary from rather awful to rather good (especially Adrianne Palicki, who repeatedly steals the show). The cinematography and direction are universally horrid. It is impossible to watch the film without wondering how much better it would have been had the same film been put together by a more competent producer/director than Sebastian Gutierrez (whose biggest claim to fame is as the writer of Snakes on a Plane), although it is doubtful that the same quality cast would have come together without his hands at the wheel as most are folks he, or partner Carla Gugino, has previously worked with. In its defence, the film really does come across as something everyone involved did for a laugh rather than as a serious project and, with that in mind, the film isn't awful but will seem like a wasted opportunity even to fans of the cast.

Video

    The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The film generally looks like it was shot on video, and the video on this disc looks to be a good transfer of a mediocre source. The image is clear and generally sharp, although the lighting, and consequently the quality of image, varies considerably between scenes. In particular, the numerous scenes set in a stuck elevator, which are washed with excessive red light, have poor contrast and lack detail. Edge enhancement is frequently noticeable but never looks too bad. There is a reasonable level of shadow detail in the image.

     There is no sign of MPEG compression artefacts in the image. Mild aliasing is present throughout the film but is rarely distracting. There is no sign of film artefacts at any point (likely as this was a purely digital transfer).

    There are no subtitles for the film.

     This is a RSDL disc with a layer transition occurring seamlessly at 66:30.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film features a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kbps) stereo audio track.

     The track reasonably clear but is unevenly mixed. The dialogue is generally easy to understand and well synchronised, but is occasionally drowned by effects and the score.

    Robyn Hitchcock provides a hip, funky score that treads a fine line between elevator music and cool, though generally falls towards the latter.

    There is no sign of surround or subwoofer usage in this functional but flat soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    No genuine extras are featured on the disc, however it is worth mention that it includes a couple of dozen trailers for other R-rated artsy movies - most of which look like they probably have all the nudity this one doesn't!

    Women in Trouble is available on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1/Region A. The Region 4 edition misses out on Delted Scenes, a minute long "behind the scenes" featurette and a teaser trailer and gains nothing of particular value that the Region 1 misses.

    A missed opportunity but a fair watch for a quiet night in for fans of any of the cast - rent before you buy!

    Video quality is fair as is the audio, though only a basic 2.0 mix is present. There are no real extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall