Enough (2002)

Slim demonstrates she doesn't end up a "me too" victim. She turns her plight into her victory.

I knew someone who liked to say: "An eye for an eye? A HEAD for an eye." Did he write this screenplay? It's like someone accidentally bumps you and you shoot them dead! But first you mash their face up a lot before you kill them, to maximize their pain and your lust for cruelty. People say, "what about his domestic violence against her?" Well, what about her's against him? I guess because he cheated, he deserved to be murdered in the first degree? This movie says our criminal justice system is worthless, essentially non-existent. It says the same for our system of social workers and shelters. Other than being a violent Lifetime-type movie made for vicarious thrills of seeing other people getting it, it does a disservice to abused people. Since the only solution is 1st degree murder, since nearly all people won't do this, and the social safety net is said to be worthless, an abused person will be left feeling helpless.

"Enough" (2002) is a drama/thriller starring Jennifer Lopez as Slim, a woman who is beat up by her husband, Mitch (Billy Campbell), when she catches wind of his infidelities. She then tries to flee from his egomaniacal clutches with her daughter and no help from the law. Will she prevail? Juliette Lewis has a peripheral role.This is a solid drama/thriller that explores the topic of spousal abuse. It's not great, but it's certainly entertaining for what it is. Lopez confidently carries the film while Campbell is very effective as the pompous bastage. The final act takes a "movie" turn, like 1998's "A Simple Plan," which I generally don't like, but here it's actually satisfying, so why complain? Roger Ebert lambasted the film for numerous reasons. I think Ebert's one of the greatest movie reviewers ever, but I can't fully agree with his assessment of "Enough." Roger calls it "tacky" simply because it shares plot similarities with the infamous "I Spit On Your Grave" (1978) in that a woman is brutalized and she ultimately turns the tables. Exactly WHY does he consider this tacky material? It's a great plot for a movie because so many women have been taken advantage of by arrogant men around the world throughout history and it's nice to see the abused woman go on the offensive.Ebert complains that Mitch is "an unlikely caricature of hard-breathing sadistic testosterone that he cannot possibly be a real human being." Really? I've met these kinds of guys. One held a gun to my sister's head and, on another occasion, blew up her car! Roger criticizes that "he has no existence beyond the stereotyped Evil Rich White Male." But the very reason stereotypes exist is because there's SOME truth to them. Ebert also complains that Mitch's change is too sudden and unexpected for both the viewer and Slim because it doesn't happen till 3-4 years into the marriage, but this presumes that a movie is obligated to share every detail of its characters with the audience. The answers are in between the lines: Sometime after the honeymoon phase wore-off Mitch acquires a mistress because he arrogantly feels he deserves one and f*** what his wife thinks. Besides, he's the bread-winner, he thinks, what say does she have? Up to this point Slim was obviously blinded by love and when she discovers the awful truth she's in shock.Roger also denounces the film for sometimes being melodramatic and over-the-top. Like "Fatal Attraction" wasn't? Even the aforementioned "A Simple Plan," which Ebert praised, has it's utterly contrived "yeah, right" moments.While Ebert's objection to the movie's simplistic moral color-coding (evil white guy contrasted by the good black trainer and lawyer) is somewhat legitimate, it isn't entirely. After all, apart from Mitch and his hired heavies, all the white dudes in the film are respectable citizens. Roger laments that we won't see a movie where the evil husband is black and the self-defense instructor is white in our lifetimes. While this may be technically true, what about 2001's "Training Day" where the ultra-corrupt cop is black (Denzel Washington) and the noble rookie is white (Ethan Hawke)? What about the righteous white instructor in 2006's "Peaceful Warrior"? These are just two examples off the top of my head. Lastly, Roger refers to "Enough" as a "cartoon of a movie." While it's true that "Enough" contains SOME over-the-top elements it has the same general tone as "A Simple Plan," not that it's as good. If you want to see a true "cartoon of a movie," see 2005's "King Kong," which took the classic adventure movie and morphed it into a veritable Road Runner cartoon. Ebert gave "King Kong" an unbelievable perfect rating. You might argue that "King Kong" is an adventure movie with a colossal gorilla, but it was also a drama/thriller that takes place in the "real" world, a world not far removed from the one presented in "Enough."Disregarding profits, the main purpose of a movie is to entertain; the secondary purpose is to convey a message, overtly or covertly. While not great or deep, "Enough" delivers the goods on both counts. Ebert missed this in his review. The film runs 115 minutes and was shot in California and Washington (state).GRADE: B

Yesterday I watched this movie on TV. I was tired and I just wanted to relax. Even if I knew it had a bad reputation, I thought it could be fun. Unfortunately it was not. The script is awful and an insult to all battered women.In a nutshell, J.Lo plays Slim, a waitress who marries Mr. Right (and Rich) only to discover after several years of marriage that he is violent and a cheater. Some other character in the movie at a certain point states that Slim is just a dumb waitress, and he might have had a point, considering how long it took her to discover her hubby true nature… Anyway, Slim and abusive hubby have a daughter – described by other reviewers as one of the most insufferable child in the history of movies. Again, they are right. For reasons difficult to understand and even more to explain, both Slim and hubby want custody of the horrible child. Therefore, Slim has no other choice but to run away in the middle of the night, to avoid losing her precious offspring.From here, this bad plot takes a turn for the worse. Why Slim decides to run away in the middle of night, rather than by day when hubby is at work or with one of his mistresses? Again, one would say because she is dumb….After her getaway, she is surprised to find that hubby cut her bank account. Being used to a rich, pampered life, she decides to turn to her rich, estranged father, for further supply of cash.Some implausible hide and seek follows, then Slim understand that the only way to get rid of the abusive – but rich – husband is to kill him. So she goes ahead with what is nothing but a premeditated murder plan.The messages received from this movie are all negative and absurd: first, that women are kept property and always ready to sponge on someone for keeping; second, that it is OK to plan a murder if you have some good reasons (according to your point of view – of course); third, that it takes only one month of training to turn into a mix of Superwoman and a ninja killer..