Pregnant by recently deceased rock drummer Nick Chapel (Josh Brolin in the previous film), former porn star Elektra Luxx (Gugino) has reinvented herself as a sex-ed instructor at a local community center, teaching a class called "How to Act Like a Porn Star in Bed." She meets Cora (Marley Shelton), a flight attendant who says she killed Nick by accident during sex and who now possesses the lyrics for Nick's unfinished final record—all love songs about Elektra. Cora offers the lyrics to Elektra, but private detective Dellwood Butterworth (Timothy Olyphant), hired by Nick's former bandmates, also wants the lyrics.
Across town, Elektra-worshipping sex vlogger Bert Rodriguez (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is struggling with the women in his life: his equally porn-obsessed sister Madeline (Amy Rosoff) and Trixie (Malin Akerman), a local checkout girl who pines for him. And in Mexico, Elektra's dimwitted former castmate Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki) is on holiday with her BFF Bambi (Emmanuelle Chriqui), on whom she has a secret crush. After a strange encounter in an elevator with a naked neighbor (Vincent Kartheiser) and an emotional visit with her twin sister, Elektra wrestles with the prospect of motherhood and the choices she has made in her life. A visit by the Virgin Mary (an uncredited Julianne Moore) helps Elektra to sort it all out.
Done on a shoestring budget like its predecessor, the film contains a few inspired moments. The porn film spoofs featuring Gugino, Palicki, and others are absolutely hilarious. Though only onscreen briefly, Ackerman and Gordon-Levitt share a nice chemistry together. And Gugino's scene in which she plays Elektra and her twin sister is a revelation. In general, Gugino balances the silliness and warmth of Elektra to perfection, allowing audiences to empathize with her.
Not as much can be said for the segments between Palicki and Chriqui, which are painful to watch—less for the actors' performances than for the utterly insipid writing. Olyphant and Moore are solid, as usual, but their characters are not much more than cardboard.
Like his mentor Pedro Almodóvar, Gutierrez has an obvious affection for female characters. These stories are rarely mean-spirited or tawdry. But the filmmaker lacks the wit or sophistication of the Spanish auteur, so what you're left with is a sweet evocation of dull people.
Genre: Comedy
Written and directed by: Sebastian Gutierrez
Starring: Carla Gugino, Timothy Olyphant, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Akerman, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Kathleen Quinlan, Marley Shelton, Justin Kirk.