A Review in Tandem: "Elektra Luxx" (and "Women in Trouble")

I’ll admit that I was a bad critic when it came to this movie. I didn’t approach it with a clean slate. I stumbled in actually wanting to like it. Wanting desperately to capture some semblance of quality or cohesion or subversive wit. But before I take this apology any further I must state that I wasn’t the only one who broke the rules. Director Sebastián Gutiérrez also shattered some cardinal precepts when he made “Elektra Luxx”, a tentatively-rendered sequel to his oddball sex comedy “Women in Trouble”.

Part deux of a proposed trilogy (the upcoming installment appropriately or inappropriately titled “Women in Ecstasy”), “Luxx” has all the same parts that made “Women in Trouble” great (at least in my mind).

Carla Gugino reprises her role as the title character as the matronly vixen by way of Jenna Jameson, newly pregnant and retired. There’s the adorable Adrianne Palicki as the dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers part-time prostitute Holly Rocket and her BFF Bambi (Chriqui). Marley Shelton of “Grindhouse” fame returns as the finicky flight attendant. Malin Akerman of “Watchmen” even steps in for brief moments as well. Plus there is Timothy Olyphant as a private detective, Joseph Gordon Levitt as a sex blogger, that sniveling little bastard from “Mad Men” and even a little surprise cameo by J__________ in the role of the blessed Virgin Mary.

So where did it all go so wrong?

Where the two films diverge is largely a question of structural integrity; where “Trouble” can stand on its own as a singular slice of life, “Luxx” needs a wheelchair. Or at the very least, a feeding tube.

I can’t even give you the premise of “Luxx” short of the fact that the title character is now teaching sex-ed classes at a community college because it is so thoroughly tied to “Trouble” (heh) that to divulge any more information would spoil what little there is to experience in the former.

The various narrative strands which weave through the plot barely intersect and when they do, it’s always in relation to the first film. In short, “Luxx” is not self-contained as a film in any sense. It’s even worse as a sequel than the second and third “Pirates of the Caribbean” with regard to relational dependence.

But to explain: A lot of people hated “Trouble”. A lot of people called it misogynistic, shameless, anti-feminist, boring, poorly-written and a number of other pejorative things that might be avoided if we are to maintain polite conversation. If you look at the writer/director’s track record you might be inclined to agree (He was one of the co-writers for “Snakes on a Plane” and something called “The Mermaid Chronicles Part I: SEA CREATURE”).

I was devastated upon discovering all of this because I found myself thoroughly enjoying the playful antics that compose the great majority of “Trouble”.

For one, Gutierrez knows how to grab your attention. There are convoluted coincidences, an explosive color palette, buckets of imitation Tarantino-esque monologues, inside jokes and enough dysfunctional relationships to supply an ample cover-to-cover reading of the DSM-IV.

Plus, cycling through the poorly-worded reviews on Netflix I found hope in a few people who felt the same way I did. To quote from an anonymous member:

“It became apparent that [“Trouble”] may also be a litmus test for a gender’s ability to laugh at/with themselves…The players are all white, middle-aged females and so were their dilemmas…Admittedly a porn star, a psychiatrist, housewife and stewardess are easy pickings for satirists. In retrospect I think director Gutierrez could have dismantled CEOs, nuns in habit or the Speaker of the House with equal aplomb.”

This gave me a little bit of encouragement. So I dug in and soaked up “Luxx” with a keener, more observant eye. And perhaps I have still not fully grasped what I saw. But what I did see only left me disappointed.

On top of all the confusion and loose ends, Gutierrez simply treats the entire thing as though it were just a stepping stone to something larger and more ambitious. He even recycles one of the best visual gags from his first film for absolutely no reason whatsoever (I don’t want to spoil the fun). What’s more, there is a point in the movie where the director’s heavy-handed religious overtones slide into the slipstream of events and hijack the narrative altogether. Let’s just say it has to do with a certain Virgin.

It’s not so much that I care one way or another for spiritual practices. But the real sin is that the ‘epiphanies’ to be had totally strike against the grain of “Trouble’s” logic, which was to accept oneself and women (people in general, really) no matter how damaged they may come.

In the end, I have a hard time even calling “Elektra Luxx” a movie. Because it really isn’t. It’s an assorted bag of mediocre party favors that you picked up off the table after leaving a really awesome party.

But I don’t want to nip your curiosity in the bud just yet. Because there is definitely something special operating in “Women in Trouble”, even if it is unpolished as of yet.

Gutierrez may have let his creative demons get the best of him. But of his two films I can safely say that what he delivers is somewhere on the verge of satire. Even if it is scattershot. I know deep down that there’s a great filmmaker in there somewhere. But if this latest work is any indication of the progress he’s made, it’s safe to say he still has a long way to go.

So: stick with the first, not the second, maybe the last.

***

Directed, Written and Produced by:
Sebastian Gutierrez

Producers:
Adva Avichzer ...........................................line producer
Robyn Daniels............................................assistant line producer
Oren Senderman........................................line producer

Music by:
Robyn Hitchcock

Cinematography by:
Cale Finot

Edited by:
Lisa Bromwell
Michelle Tesoro

Cast ("Trouble"):
Carla Gugino..........................................................Elektra Luxx
Adrianne Palicki ...................................................Holly Rocket
Dan Mailley...........................................................Doctor
Connie Britton.......................................................Doris
Caitlin Keats..........................................................Addy
Isabella Gutierrez .................................................Charlotte
Simon Baker...........................................................Travis McPherson
Sarah Clarke..........................................................Maxine McPherson
Emmanuelle Chriqui.............................................Bambi
Antonio Grana.....................................................Jimbo
Marley Shelton.....................................................Cora
Josh Brolin............................................................Nick Chapel

Cast ("Luxx"):
Joseph Gordon-Levitt.......................................Bert Rodriguez
Carla Gugino.......................................................Elektra Luxx/Celia (also as Taryn Gugino)
Ermahn Ospina..................................................Jimmy Cojones
Kathleen Quinlan..............................................Rebecca Linbrook
Melissa Stephens ............................................Nadine
Susie Goliti.........................................................Maria
Lucy Punch.......................................................Dolores
Marley Shelton.................................................Cora
Amy Rosoff......................................................Olive Rodriguez
Timothy Olyphant...........................................Dellwood Butterworth
Adrianne Palicki...............................................Holly Rocket
Emmanuelle Chriqui........................................Bambi Lindberg
Vincent Kartheiser..........................................Jimmy
Malin Akerman................................................Trixie