Last night, I was on Netflix searching for female driven comedies, some research for a script I’m still struggling to understand btw, and I couldn’t find many of them I must say. Most of the comedies there are male driven and many of them starring the same dudes! No kidding! Now, I can understand the mind fixation in which we all fall that prevent us many times to go for the unknown cast, that strange distrust that makes us fall into the star system over and over again. Like something has to remind us of something we’ve seen before, why the hell does this happen? Any psychologist there? But anyway, the female problem, is it a problem? Are woman just not funny enough to star in their own movies? Is there no audience for that type of movie? We all know the answer to this question, right? Of course, there’s an audience and talented actresses to pull it off. Yet the problem remain, and I have to be honest here, this might be the first time I’ve looked for a female driven comedy, am I part of the problem? Probably…

So, what does that ranting have to do with Walk of Shame? Well, a lot actually, starting with the obvious production problems the movie has that kinda butcher the whole idea, which is an interesting one.

But let’s start from the beginning, what’s the movie about?

It’s about this woman, Meghan, a conservative woman from Texas (first cliché of maaaaany) who is a news anchor looking for an opportunity in a big network. Now, on the same night she finds out that her fiancée has dumped her, she also loses this opportunity to a seemingly better prepared person. So, what does she do? She goes with two drunk privilege friends to a club and gets wasted beyond any limit. Looking for the bathroom, a door closes on her (this might be some sort of metaphor), then, after hooking up with a “nice guy” (who’s a writer btw) a door closes on her again! Leaving her out in the streets with her car just being towed for improper parking. Her journey now is to find a way back home on her own, having to face the fact that the town she lives in is full of prejudice against a woman dressed in a sexy outfit, everyone thinking that she’s a hooker for some strange reason.

I would say that the story is not bad in itself, but it has many issues. For one, is not clear if we’re looking at a satire of a real problem, the discrimination against woman, or if we’re watching a movie about a shy person becoming an empowered one. I guess you can say both plots mingle together in between but none of them is explored in a successful way here. Should woman rise above the discrimination by empowering themselves? Probably yes, I just wish this movie had painted this idea in a compelling way, instead it relies in a number of clichés and stereotypes that gives the whole movie a strange and awkward feeling, like watching a college film of some amateur attempt at movie making. And in here is where I feel some production value could have made a lot of difference. I mean, some of the cinematography in this movie is super simple and lacking of any aesthetic value. The idea was to make a privileged and protected woman walk through the rough neighbourhoods of L.A. but many of the shoots in here are from a far, even at air level! And we actually barely see the reality that the movie is supposedly trying to convey.

The ending is the worst, like she says “let’s walk and make it an adventure” as if walking every day to work and stuff was such a fun ride! I don’t know… I feel I didn’t learn anything about women watching this movie, it portrays them as dumb, shy and drunk. Also portrays men as dick driven heartless monsters, but hey! Crack sellers and bartender/writers are nice guys. Such a strange thing… The other movie I watched was “The to do list”, in there, women are kinda the same as men, some dumb, some smart, and all of them eager to have sex (adolescent movie!), maybe I should find better ways to research about this subject… Bye!