Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 1:54 - Released 5/24/02
ENOUGH
Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 1:54 - Released 5/24/02
Much has been made of Jennifer Lopez's status as a "triple
threat." At first a dancer who got her break as one of the
Fly Girls on the TV sketch show In Living Color, Lopez
has carved out a niche for herself in films, TV, and music, moving
through the ranks to become a megastar in recording and a Hollywood
fixture. But of her acting abilities...let's just say she shouldn't
quit her day job. Of course, it doesn't help that she keeps getting
involved in awful movies. I enjoyed The
Cell, more because of the special effects than J-Lo, but
The Wedding Planner and
Angel Eyes were utter trash,
and I'm sorry to say that Enough, written by Nicholas Kazan
and directed by Michael Apted, isn't much better. The story of
an abused wife who finally has to take matters into her own hands,
it draws from a script with all the symptoms of a frontal lobotomy,
and Lopez doesn't do much to compensate for that.
The first part of this film involves how "Slim" (Lopez)
and her wealthy, arrogant, future-ex-husband Mitch (Bill Campbell)
first meet. Writer Kazan (son of famous and controversial director
Elia Kazan) chose to include this opening in order to introduce
a character played by ER's Noah Wyle who reappears later,
but this choice really shoots itself in the foot, because it comes
off rushed and oversimplified. Rather than just beginning the
story with Slim and Mitch as an already married couple, we have
to go through their courtship, marriage, and the birth of their
daughter, which is done in about 10 minutes with all the tenderness
of a rectal exam. Suddenly they're a family with a beautiful home
and a 6-year-old daughter named Gracie (Tessa Allen), and there's
trouble: Mitch, who has proven that he's used to getting what
he wants, is having an affair with a French woman named Darcelle.
I knew something was wrong when he refused Slim's offer to join
him in the shower. Never, EVER refuse Jennifer Lopez when she
offers to join you in the shower. When Slim finds out about the
affair, Mitch apologizes, but doesn't even offer to break it off,
stating that since he earns the money, he makes the rules. "I'm
a man," he explains, indicating in three little words the
entire film's unpretentiously male-bashing chick-flick mentality.
When Slim argues, Mitch punches her out. When she complains
about being punched out, he punches her out. And when she tries
to leave the house, enlisting the aid of some friends, like former
co-worker Ginny (Juliette Lewis), guess what happens. He punches
her out and threatens to shoot her friends. But she does finally
get away, and so begins an occasionally eerie but mostly predictable
cat-and-mouse-and-red-herring game in which he traces her credit
card transactions, freezes her accounts, and hires his old pal
Noah Wyle (remember him?) to follow her. Eventually, after ascertaining
that she can't combat her husband's abuses by conventional means,
she takes boxing lessons, learns to jaywalk, and prepares to meet
him fist-to-face.
This movie suffers from idiotic dialogue, ridiculous situations, and unbelievable characterizations throughout. When it is not overtly brain-dead, it's just plain boring, with too many plot detours, road trips, and hairstyle changes for its own good. And those annoying title cards are something else. In between all the stupid car chases, stupid fight scenes, and stupid dialogue, director Apted gives us these little clichéd silent-movie-style cards that flash on the screen with helpful notices like "Get out of there." Lopez, Campbell, and Lewis are not so terrible that they should bear all the blame for this film's substandard quality. But they're Enough. *½