Um Caso Complicado

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.

Elektra Luxx tries to blend comedy, drama, and satire into a quirky story, but it never fully commits to any of them. The premise-following a retired adult film star navigating a new life-has potential, but the execution feels uneven. Some moments shine with clever dialogue and offbeat humor, but the film often meanders without a clear direction.

Carla Gugino is the highlight here, bringing charm and depth to the title role. She does her best with the material, but the script doesn't always give her much to work with. The supporting cast adds some amusing moments, but the overall story lacks a strong narrative drive, making it feel disjointed.

While there are flashes of wit and interesting character moments, Elektra Luxx ultimately falls short of being truly memorable. It's an okay watch if you're in the mood for something light and offbeat, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

Carla Gugino is great, but the movie itself doesn't fully deliver on its promise.

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.

This film is about the life of a porn star who quits the entertainment industry because she got pregnant.

"Elektra Luxx" is not really a comedy, but a quirky semi-serious drama. There are three vaguely connected subplots, one about the life of Elektra Luxx, another about a blogger and the third about two female friends of Elektra. While the main subplot of Elektra's life is interesting, the latter two subplots seem to add little to the main story. They seem disconnected and seem to function as fillers. Or, they are just reasons to put some soft porn in.

I find "Elektra Luxx" not so engaging or captivating as it potentially could be. What surprises me the most is the number of big names in the film, such as Joseph Gordon Levitt, Malin Akerman and even a long cameo by Julianne Moore.

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.