The Girl Is in Trouble

Ordinarily I don't enjoy a film narrated from the protagonist's point of view, but in this case I found the actor's voice soothing & dialog to be fundamental to the plot. His perspective was important because it added an element of surprise to the plot as it unfolded. Reminiscent of everyday, real life situations when issues of believability & trust can cloud one's judgment when dealing with the unknown, this storyline engaged me throughout the film. The actor's were believable & production values were strong! I was easily able to suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy myself. Truly a surprise pick that I might have otherwise skipped if I hadn't taken a chance! Worth my time!

Where to begin? Acting is mediocre at best.

Storyline is like something a couple of middle school kids would makeup during a lunch break.

Like the previous reviewer had stated....the monologue is excessive, boring, wanders off on ridiculous tangents....AWFUL! This movie was the most painful movie I have ever watched. I literally quit watching the movie and then later resumed it 4 times.

For a 90 minute movie it felt like 4 hours.

The movie is so boring. I can think of maybe 2 scenes that total 3 minutes where the movie actually made me turn my head to fully see the screen. Prior to that I shifted between listening with both eyes closed and then laying on my side with only one eye partially opened....it is that bad.

I really think this movie must have gotten a 5+ rating because of Spike Lee's name.

Not that Spike Lee has ever done a great movie....but the fact that Spike Lee is just a cool name.

Do yourself a favor....slide down razor blades into a pool of alcohol and skip this movie. You'll feel much better in the end.

It's rare to see a movie character utters this quantity of monologue, The Girl Is in Trouble might just beat Sin City for time spent narrating. It starts off well, cinematography is sleek for urban setting, the earlier scenes are intriguing and actors' performances are admirable. Sadly, the persistent rambling plods the pace severely, not to mention it tries to switch back and forth through different timelines and perspectives, even those of unnecessary characters.

August (Colombus Short) has experienced strings of unfortunate events, though they pale in comparison when he finds a snuff video on the phone of Signe (Alicja Bachleda). Situation gets worse as the persons on the video are tied to wealthy company and gangster. The actors do a fine job, they fit their roles very well. Colombus Short is presentable as the lead, he also narrates most of the movie, this part can be annoying though it's mostly the fault from the script.

Jesse Spencer as Nicholas, the rich guy and Wilmer Valderrama as Angel, the brother of a missing drug dealer perform their bests. They deliver a sense of dread and cunning nature in tandem. While most of the cast mainly dabble in TV shows, the acting department is very solid. Camera work highlights the ambiance of the street and this is particularly useful on creating the gangster or crime thriller atmosphere.

Narration pretty much hampers the entirety of the movie. August just won't stop blabbering. It seems he's psychic as well because he knows the most intimate moments of others. He is also historian, since he gives lecture about immigrants and history of the district. This goes on until the end, he even manages to cover that one friend from social media or that one lesbian fling. All of this with sudden shift in timeline and useless trivia.

The audiences will be most likely numbed by the constant jabbering before it reaches the climax. Nevertheless, the lively feel of the city and its occupants are good enough to overcome the distracting narrative, barely.

This is a good example of a decent premise and cast bogged down by poor "style" choices and unnecessary narration. The filmmakers clearly decided to make up for the low budget by mixing up the story in disjointed flashbacks instead of letting the story flow naturally. Everytime you start to get into a scene BAM they cut into a flashback, and sometimes intercut a flashback with a flashback. They probably thought this was a way to be flashy but, for me, it was just distracting. Then to add to the annoyance, they added a voice over to explain EVERYTHING and introduce characters that don't matter. Things get very cluttered. In the end it just gets in the way of itself. I truly believe if they told a straight forward story they'd have a decent indie/thriller on their hands. Instead it comes off as a bad experiment.

This indie movie is laced with intrigue and suspense.

On its face it is your standard PG-13 noir, but the storytelling is sophisticated and beneath the surface another story emerges, one that shares more about our complexity as people...

Wilmer shows you his depth throughout the picture. In fact the entire cast was good.

Short, was believable as August. I liked the voice over.. it created more movement to the story

Alicja played a great Signe, she did not overplay her hand.

Jesse made a good Nicholas as well.

By far Wilmer was my favorite.. he was a far way from fez...

Is there room to grow, I am sure there is but I am excited to see the careers of all involved grow.