Women in Trouble (Blu-ray Review)
Released in theaters in the autumn of 2009, Women in Trouble contains a pretty impressive cast, featuring the likes of Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, Sin City), Adrianne Palicki (Legion), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) among several others. Now arriving on Blu-ray, the film brings its cast and story to your home February 16th. The film was written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez (The Eye, Snakes on a Plane) who has another production in the works, connected to Women in Trouble, that will be released this year. Before we can check out that film, let’s take a glance at how Gutierrez’s 2009 work faired.
Film 
The movie follows an array of characters and their real life troubles and somehow, in a connected turn of events, each turbulent occurrence has a connection to the next. From a cheating husband and his suicidal mistress to a pregnant porn star stuck in an elevator, this movie is a chick flick through and through. Some people get offended by that phrase, but what can I say? Stereotypes happen for a reason and women will relate a lot more to this film than the guys will. It is what it is.
The acting is performed quite well in this picture so there are no qualms there. I found the flow somewhat choppy at times though, but if you bear with it, you will come to understand that everything in the movie has its place. Still, I had a difficult time caring about the characters’ plights. The development was only surface-deep at best for some of the people, which left me feeling rather unsympathetic toward them. As for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I loved this guy’s work in 500 Days of Summer which has come to be one of my favorite films. As for his duty in Women in Trouble, I honestly cannot comment. Why? I checked the credits and found he is connected to the character ‘Bert Rodriguez.’ I have no recollection of his performance or that character in this movie…and I just watched it an hour ago. Either he is on and off the screen in the blink of an eye or his makeup is done so well that his likeness was unrecognizable.
The film mostly follows Carla Gugino’s character (Elektra Luxx; look for a sequel this year whose title reflects the character’s namesake) and that of Palicki’s (Holly Rocket), though, as previously mentioned, there are other stories all taking place around the same time, all having an impact on most if not all the characters in a classic case of six degrees of separation. All in all, this 95-minute production felt more like 120 minutes that just wouldn’t end soon enough. It has its high points, but this movie lacked punch, and while containing some depth, just didn’t have enough to keep me glued to the screen.
Video 
Coming in with an AVC encode in 1080p, I was a little disappointed that those attributes didn’t deliver a more solid picture. While I didn’t pick up on a significant amount of grain, there was this gentle haze that prevented full pore-revealing details to be visible throughout the entire movie. The aspect ratio is shown at 2.35:1, although the visual softness provided enough distraction to keep your eyes from focusing on this attribute. Other than that, the film’s variety of colors were vibrantly displayed amidst a backdrop of several mood-changing scenes.
Audio
Arguably the greatest aspect of this disc is the audio. While it won’t knock your socks off, it is impressive when it needs to be. This was most prevalent during one sequence when a commotion could be heard downstairs. The rear speakers brought forth the somewhat mumbled unrest in the lower floor of the home while the two actresses upstairs had dialogue delivered through the front channels. Ambient sounds are also brilliantly sent through the rear channels, filling the air with noises appropriate for the scene at hand. As for the subwoofer, expect that piece of equipment to lie rather dormant.
Special Features
I am happy to report that high def technology is not wasted on the folks that put this disc together. Each special feature comes to us in at least 720 resolution (the pool teaser), while the rest are in 1080. Still, there’s not a lot here, nor anything too inspiring.
- Behind the Scenes with Holly Rocket and Elektra Luxx – Gugino (Luxx) and Palicki (Rocket) take time to do a mock discussion of what Women in Trouble is about. This did have some fairly decent comedic content, but was way too short (1:48).
- Pool Teaser Trailer – The actresses of Women in Trouble disrobe down to their underwear in a swimming pool. Are they hot? Yes. Is this entertaining? Not for long (1:06).
- Deleted Scenes – You will find a total of five missing scenes here, all done in a therapy monologue style, all of which make me want to slam my head against a wall. These are mock video recordings of real Hollywood personalities (6:42).
Final Thoughts
In the end, this writer wasn’t entertained much from this production. I did want to mention the extremely poor color choice used in the disc’s menu. The fonts are done in white with a selected item appearing in faint pink. The problem is the two colors are so close that it’s often difficult to decipher what menu option is highlighted and what is not. I understand their pink went with the color scheme, but it also provided a minor and needless bit of frustration that can be easily removed. To women I say ‘rent this,’ and to the guys I say ‘pass.’ Since there are more women than men in the world, I probably should base my recommendation off the former instead of the latter. I just think that there are so many better movies out there than Women in Trouble for any audience, that this may not be the best decision for a rental. Nevertheless, if your curiosity is peaked, I say have at it.
Bring home the Screen Media Films Blu-ray today!
That’s kind of too bad. I had high hopes for this one! So how was your girl Carla in this?
Ms. Gugino put on a good performance as always (and was easy on the eyes as always) but even she couldn’t save this film. Maybe a movie based only around her character in this film will be better.