Elektra Luxx

Sebastian Gutierrez's dialogue oriented 'Elektra Luxx' is somewhat better than his next film 'Girl Walks Into A Bar', at least in terms of writing, especially where dialogue is concerned. It's wittier, fresher and funnier and fits well with the situations. 'Elektra Luxx' also has a film-noire style feel to it. The story of the title character juxtaposes with two others: one about Luxx's 'diehard' and desperate fanboy blogger Bert who's trying to move on with life post Luxx's film career (she quit) and another involving Luxx's former costar Holly. I thought the latter story, though well acted in by Adrianne Palicki and Emannuelle Chriqui, barely contributed to the film and perhaps it should have been left out as it only slows down the pace. The overall pacing is also uneven. At times the lighting feels excessive. The score is well utilized and pleasant to the ears. Carla Gugino is terrific in the title role and she is well-supported by Adrianne Palicki, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kathleen Quinlan and Marley Shelton. There's also an interesting cameo by one of the finest actresses.

To sum it up, 'Elektra Luxx' is refreshing. It has a novel premise and Gutierrez steers away from clichés. Some good editing was required to tighten it up a little.

This movie, several steps up from "Women In Trouble" in terms of consistency, further evolves the weird, wonderful and sexy world of the title character. Carla Gugino is so winning as this confused but sometimes wise former lady of porn that it makes you wonder what movies would be like if she got more leading parts. Returning from the first one are the awesome duo of Adrienne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui, who are maybe the most moving part of the story. Joseph Gordon Levitt is hilarious in it too and Malin Akerman, who I wasn't all that keen on from "Watchmen", actually proves she's a very good actress. Sex-positive and lesbian-positive without being preachy or sappy, this is a smart, weird comedy with a ton of personality and GREAT DIALOGUE.

"What kind of person are you?" Retiring pregnant porn star Elektra Luxx (Gugino) fills her days by teaching a sexology class. After being approached by a stranger with a tie to her dead ex-boyfriend her day starts to get weird. If you have seen the previews to this then you think you know what the movie is about. You would be wrong. From what I saw I expected a very funny comedy. While this movie does have it's funny moments, at its core it actually a very moving story. A woman who is trying to figure out where her life is is the one everyone seems to go to for advice, help or anything she can provide. Being that the movie is about a porn star there are a few pretty raunchy scenes and dialog, but no where near what you would have expected. There is a shot a a male and female butt and that is the extent of the nudity. The acting and characters are very entertaining that it makes you want to watch and see everyone get what they want. This is not at all what I expected, it was better. Overall a very touching, and somewhat funny story about finding out and being comfortable with who you are. I give it a B+.

Would I watch it again? - I think I actually would.

*Also try - Finding Bliss

Bert Rodriguez (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a fast-talking self-styled porn commentator reporting on 90s porn star Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino) from his mother's basement. She is famous for a porn with herself as twins but she actually has a twin in prison for real. She is pregnant and out of the business. She's teaching sex class in the community center. Cora (Marley Shelton) admits killing her baby daddy Nick while having sex with him. Cora gives her songs written by Nick about her. In return, Cora wants her to seduce her fiancée Ben (Justin Kirk) to even the score. She tries to accommodate but he wrongly mistakes robber Dellwood Butterworth (Timothy Olyphant) for him. Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki) is a former porn partner who is in love with her best friend Bambi Lindberg (Emmanuelle Chriqui).

This is the sequel to 'Women in Trouble'. It tries to be campy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It tries to be an irreverent take on porn. I'm willing to go with this weirdness for another Sebastian Gutierrez episode. However it becomes rambling messy story. It has no flow. Its quirkiness is not actually funny. The first movie has a certain charm which this one seems to struggle to maintain. I still like Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui together. Carla Gugino starts out fine but goes downhill. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is too broad and I grow to hate his part of the movie.

Elektra Luxx is the slightly improved sequel to Women in Trouble. If you enjoyed that movie at all, then this one will also probably be worth your time. 

A lot of the failed attempts at humor where left out this time around, and the story focus also lies more heavily on the characters of Elektra (Carla Gugino), Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki), Bambi (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Bert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The story lines of those characters in the first movie are continued right where they left off, and they're also joined by a few new faces like Timothy Olyphant, Malin Akerman and Lucy Punch. 

Elektra Luxx is also a much tamer movie than Women in Trouble, despite the fact that most of its characters are still porn stars. Besides a few curse words, this could have been a PG-13 film. 

As I said before, check this out if you're interested in the continued lives of the characters from Women in Trouble (the doors are left wide open at the end of this movie for a third entry in the series). Otherwise, there's not a whole lot of reasons to go out of your way to see this.