Pappy ( 2 out of 4
pops )
I was disappointed with “Enough”.
It was way too many dull set up scenes for a climax that had
little drama and zero innovation. Hey, we all know from the ads and the trailers that
J-Lo beats up her tormentor in the end – so there is no question or
suspense about that one. But
it could have been fun seeing her work like crazy to train for the
climatic fight scene. And
it could have had the audience standing to cheer for her in a really
dramatic and intense with her ex-husband.
But nothing really interesting happens in the training or the
final kick butt scene. The
original Rocky did a far superior job of showing the “get ready for
the big fight” phase. And
of course it would be hard to top seeing a bald Demi Moore slug it out
with Navy SEALS in GI Jane. The
Julie Roberts’ 1991 film had a very similar plot line and though it
did not involve a child, it had a lot more of everything in it. In the
case of this film “Enough” is not always enough.
Billy Ray ( 0 out of 4 pops )
How could the incredible director of TV films like "21 Up",
"28 Up", "35 Up", and "42 Up", who also
directed films such as "Coal Miner's Daughter" and
"Gorky Park", ever consider directing such an incredible
waste of time--such is "Enough". You can pretty much
call this "Double Jeopardy 2", with Jennifer Lopez taking
over for Ashley Judd and Bill Campbell taking over for Bruce
Greenwood. Add the tedious Juliette Lewis and oddly miscast Noah
Wyle and you've got this pointless, macho driven chick flick (though
there is nothing wrong with 'chick flicks') about a woman trying to
escape her violent ex-husband. Guess what--she learns self
defense and kicks ass. Big whoop. Director Michael Apted
was probably half asleep or something when he agreed to do this,
because it certainly deserves a director of lesser talents (maybe
those guys who directed "American Pie"?). This is a
boring, useless exercise in drudgery, and I feel cheated for having to
sit through the entirety of it. Avoid this one at all costs and
go see "The
Believer"
or "About
A Boy".
Matt ( 1 1/2 out of 4 pops )
Plain and simple: "Enough" is no
more than a soap opera/melodrama/feminist PSA. It's a preachy
would-be thriller revolving around the same theme: men suck.
Now, the premise doesn't sound too bad. There are millions of
women in this world who are violently abused by egotistical,
power-hungry boyfriends and husbands. But in this case, the
husband is such a one-dimensional cliché that I had to stop myself
from laughing. The husband blurts out such trite dialogue as,
"I make the money in this house. You go by my rules."
And he does so without even batting an eye. His character
transformation from charming Romeo to abusive husband is so stilted
that there is virtually no dramatic tension. And J-Lo's job is
pretty much to cry and yell like a hyena until she finally shapes up
and becomes Rambo by the third act. The final fight scene plays
out like a boxing match, in which the audience is ringside placing
bets on who will beat the crap out of whom. Wow, that's a
toughie. Aside from its preachy feminist message, there's
numerous clichés, including the ringing telephone and one scene where
the daughter is playing with a basketball, it rolls away from her and
the ball is stopped by...take a guess! And there's tons of
laughable dialogue. That's really all this movie is worth--a barrel
of unintentional laughs. Domestic abuse is a serious subject--as
shown more believably in the John Travolta film "Domestic
Disturbance"--and
it shouldn't be trivialized like this. They should've just
sliced the budget in half and made it a TV movie.
