Enough Review
by Eugene Novikov (eugenen AT wharton DOT upenn DOT edu)July 15th, 2002
Enough (2002)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Self-defense is not murder."
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Billy Campbell, Noah Wyle, Juliette Lewis, Tessa Allen, Dan Futterman, Fred Ward. Directed by Michael Apted. Rated PG-13.
I don't even know how to begin mounting my probably misguided defense of Enough, one of the year's most critically-drummed movies, a shameless, shamelessly well-made rabid feminist diatribe. Just last week I wrote on the virtues of that elusive genre known as the Crowd-Pleaser; well, here's one of a somewhat different sort, a movie that entertains us despite its obvious absurdity, a guilty pleasure that engages the viewer's every movie-watching faculty even when it doesn't make a lick of sense. We could do with more of these.
I suppose I could begin by mentioning that in this movie, Jennifer Lopez is told seriously that she'd better take what she can get because no guy will ever go for her. She plays Slim, a lonely waitress just making ends meet, an orphan partially supported by a benevolent friend of the family. On duty one afternoon, she is charmed by a tall, wealthy stranger named Mitch (Billy Campbell) and soon enough, they're married and with child, she can quit her job, move into a big house and start living the life of her dreams.
This is about when the warning signs start to appear. First, he threatens violence to get a guy to sell his house. Then, Slim gets suspicious that he may be having women on the side. When she confronts him about it, she gets punched in the face, and is told in no uncertain terms that yeah, he's having some fun, and there's nothing she can do about it. The abuse continues from there, eventually reaching their daughter Gracie (Tessa Allen). So, with the help of her friends, including a fellow waitress played by Juliette Lewis, she decides to take the kid and run. And run and run and run.
He comes after her, using his money and connections to rack her through the Us, not giving her a moment's peace of mind. She goes to her biological father, who doesn't want anything to do with her, then to an old boyfriend, and then, finally, to a personal trainer. She decides to get in shape, learn martial arts, and prove to her husband that two can play that game, and in the process test the theory that self-defense is not murder.
0 Michael Apted is evidently the weirdest guy in existence: from third-rate James Bond movies (The World is Not Enough), to deliberate, romantic WWII dramas (Enigma), to a thoughtful documentary series (the Up series), to this sort of schlock, his range has excluded few genres. He proves here, as he failed to with the Bond franchise (though few directors could, with the likes of Pierce Brosnan in the lead), that he is second to none in the field of straightforward, check-your-brain-at-the-door suspense. There is nothing terribly elegant about the countless inexplicably edge-of-your-seat sequences in Enough, and nothing stylish or distinctive about them either; they work because we instinctively sympathize with the concept of a threatened mother protecting her young, and because Apted has mastered the technical aspect of filmmaking from camerawork, to timing, to music. It's all pretty by the numbers, really, but damned if I wasn't hooked.
In the climax, Slim locks Mitch in his house and beats up on him. It's reprehensible and exploitative, and at this point I really felt guilty about having so much fun at the hands of Apted and Co. This is the kind of thing I would normally resent, a cynical movie that preys on our ostensible desire to see the evil guy get his ass kicked by Jennifer Lopez. Why did I like it here? I can't really explain it. Maybe the movie is too simplistic to plant in our heads any suspicion that he may not deserve this. Or it could just be that the scene is in step with this slick, overproduced movie, as addictive as reality tv despite the fact that there isn't a shred of reality to be found anywhere.
Grade: B+
Up Next: The Sum of All Fears
©2002 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
