Enough

Review by Clint Morris

In Enough, Jennifer Lopez plays Slim, a waitress with seemingly nothing in her future.

That is until she meets Mitch (Billy Campbell), a strapping, seemingly charming and wealthy local businessman.

A couple of title cards later, we learn they're married, wealthy and seemingly happy with a 5-year-old daughter.

When Slim learns Mitch is having an affair, he turns the tables on his faithful bride, beating her across the face, and ordering her to accept his extramural lovers.

Several slaps later, Slim decides to get out of the circumstances, and because the authorities would be of no help, grabs her daughter and flees the city.

With her daughter in tow, Slim runs, but can't hide. Mitch has men on every corner hunting her down, and a squalid, crooked cop played by Noah Wyle is only steps behind catching her and bringing her back.

Constantly reminded of her unavoidable demise if hubby catches her, Slim decides to beef up and learn martial arts – ultimately deciding that it's him who's going to get the arse-kicking.

Surely director Michael Apted has seen Sleeping with the Enemy and those countless other 'bad hubby gets his just desserts' movies? I'm sure most of the audience has – and the last thing they need is another one.

You'd think if Jennifer Lopez was so hot right now, she could at least pick worthwhile pictures to make, but truth be told, she has done much better pictures – for instance, Selena and Out of Sight – before she returned to cinema after hitting it big in music.

The main problem with Enough isn't that it's old hat, it is the highly implausible, almost laughable screenplay.

It forces the cast to overact, it almost begs the audience to take the film gravely (but chance are, they won't) and when all is said and done, it is a pale precursor to those aforesaid similar films of years gone by.

Jennifer Lopez is hardly the best thing in the film either - that honour belongs to child actor Tessa Allen. She's adorable and quite a charming little actress. She, at least, comes away from the film with some dignity.

The same can't be said for Billy Campbell (TV’s Once and Again) terribly miscast as the devilish husband. Campbell is so lost in the role, he comes across wooden and strained.

To its merit, Enough will keep your attention for a couple of hours. It's got some worthwhile nail-biting scenes, and some of the support cast are better than necessary – but by today's standards a couple of good elements in a film just ain't “enough”.

2.5 out of 5

Enough
Australian release: Thursday October 17
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Billy Campbell, Dan Futterman, Juliette Lewis, Noah Wyle, Tessa Allen, Fred Ward.
Director: Michael Apted.
Website: Click here

Brought to you by MovieHole