Enough (DVD)

...it on TV.
Enough – starring Jennifer Lopez and Billy Campbell, is a film dealing with domestic violence, and how the beaten wife takes matters into her own hands and fights back.


-- Technical Details --
Year: 2002.
Time Running: 115 Minutes.
Cert: 15.
Director: Michael Apted (Also responsible for Enigma, and The World Is Not Enough)


-- Cast --
Slim Hiller ...
...let them go and soon enough he's hired men to follow her every move. Slim is on the run with Gracie, knowing that Mitch is never far behind her, and that when he catches up with her, he'll kill her.
She moves up to Michigan, buys a house and changes her identity. She changes her appearance, and things settle down for a while.
But eventually Mitch traces her again, and Slim knows that she can't keep on running, so she decides to fight ... more

Another one of my favourite films got it’s premiere on Sky Movies last night, and I thought what better time for me to review it than now, so if I can persuade anyone to watch this, you’ll be able to catch it on TV.
Enough – starring Jennifer Lopez and Billy Campbell, is a film dealing with domestic violence, and how the beaten wife takes matters into her own hands and fights back.

-- Technical Details --
Year: 2002.
Time Running: 115 Minutes.
Cert: 15.
Director: Michael Apted (Also responsible for Enigma, and The World Is Not Enough)

-- Cast --
Slim Hiller – Jennifer Lopez (The Wedding Planner, Maid In Manhattan)
Mitch Hiller – Billy Campbell (Bram Stokers Dracula, The Rocketeer)
Gracie Hiller – Tessa Allen (TV Series Providence, and General Hospital)
Ginny – Juliette Lewis (Starsky & Hutch 2004, Cape Fear)
Joe – Dan Futterman (Shooting Fish, Thicker Than Blood)
Robbie – Noah Wyle (Donnie Darko, ER)
Jupiter – Fred Ward (Sweet Home Alabama, Road Trip)

-- Plot --
Slim works as a waitress in a diner. The staff there are almost her substitute family, seeing as her own father walked out on her when she was a little girl. One day a customer's flirting with her quickly gets out of hand, and Slim is rescued by Mitch Hiller, the tall dark, handsome and rich stranger.
After one of the films annoying flash cards saying 'to have and to hold', Slim and Mitch are married, and have a young daughter called Gracie. Life is perfect. They're happy, they have a lovely house, plenty of money and for the first time in her life, Slim has a family.
But good things can never last and Slim discovers that Mitch has been having an affair. When she confronts him about it, he hits her, and from there on things start to fall apart, as Mitch tells her he can hit her when he wants and he can sleep with as many woman as he wants to.
Slim realises the police won’t be able to help her, and she knows that she has to get away from him.
So one night she takes her daughter and leaves, going to stay with an ex-boyfriend. But Mitch isn't going to let them go and soon enough he's hired men to follow her every move. Slim is on the run with Gracie, knowing that Mitch is never far behind her, and that when he catches up with her, he'll kill her.
She moves up to Michigan, buys a house and changes her identity. She changes her appearance, and things settle down for a while.
But eventually Mitch traces her again, and Slim knows that she can't keep on running, so she decides to fight back. She gets trained in self-defence classes, and gains confidence. This time she knows that when he hits her, she'll be able to hit him back.

-- My Opinion --
I really like this film because it’s empowering and, in a sense, uplifting, especially for females because it makes you think ‘yeah, I could do that.’
As thrillers go, it’s a good one with some very tense moments - I often found myself on the edge of my seat, and there are some genuine frightening scenes, in particular the scene where Mitch breaks into Slim’s house and the viewer knows he’s in there but she doesn’t, and the car chase with Noah Wyle had me biting my fingernails!
The camera angles are often seen from the point of view of the observer, which adds to the sense of urgency for the viewer and you end up yelling at the screen ‘he’s behind you!’ or ‘get out, he’s in the house!’

Obviously domestic violence is a serious and devastating issue, and while it’s advertised as the main part of this film, I felt it didn’t focus strongly enough on the subject. Up until Slim actually leaves the house, you get no real feeling that she is truly afraid of Mitch, that only comes when she realises he’s following her.
Yes, it gives women the message ‘you can fight back’, but outside of Hollywood, it’s not that simple.
Not every woman can become a fighting expert with the astounding ability to take on a man twice her size with only a month’s training. Not every woman has a long-lost father with lots of money to offer financial support or the not-quite-ex boyfriend to support her emotionally.
It makes the domestic violence out to seem far less serious than it actually was, and the particular issue of Mitch beating her in their home seems almost unimportant in this film.
The other thing I didn’t like was the transformation from terrified mum on the run to well-oiled fighting machine was far too quick and easy, and the film would’ve benefited from devoting more time to Slim’s physical and mental training process.

I actually liked the ending, although the tagline gives it away at bit so I won’t mention that here.
After the combat classes, Slim is able to change the main dominance in the relationship from male to female as she lurks in the shadows watching Mitch, as he has watched her.
The fight at the end, although not disappointing, was over far too quickly for my liking. The whole film built up to it yet it was over in five minutes flat.
I also thought that Slim became somewhat indestructible during the end sequence, it seemed Mitch could no longer physically hurt her, despite being a lot bigger and having inflicted so much damage before, and I found that aspect a little implausible.

Although I’m not overly keen on her music, I’m a big fan of J.Lo as an actress and she certainly doesn’t disappoint here. She plays the role of Slim with ease, despite that fact it seems like a very difficult role to play. You never doubt that she actually is this terrified mother on the run for her own and her daughter’s life.
Billy Campbell is also perfectly cast as the terrifyingly nasty piece of work Mitch, who decides that as a man he can get away with anything within his marriage. He’s exactly the right type of bloke for this kind of role – the kind that looks like a creep but there’s still something attractive about him. You can see why Slim falls for him in the first place, and also how it would be easy for him to keep his true colours hidden for so long.
They have a good supporting cast too, with Fred Ward as Slim’s eccentric estranged father, Jupiter, Juliette Lewis as Ginny - Slim’s ever-supportive friend and co-worker from the diner, and Noah Wyle in a suitably sleazy role as Mitch’s FBI Agent friend, Robbie.
Also Tessa Allen as the daughter Gracie is an excellent little actress, demonstrating her emotions and an age beyond her years very well.

The soundtrack is also enjoyable and unobtrusive. The main songs that stick out are All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow, and Alive by Jennifer Lopez. It also features two songs by Jon Joyce, This Way by Jewel, and Today’s The Day by Aimee Mann.

-- DVD Details --
- Audio commentary by director Michael Apted and writer Nicholas Kazan.
- Audio commentary by producer Irwin Winkler.
- Music Video for Alive by Jennifer Lopez.
- 3 featurettes: A Clear Message, Enough is Enough, and Krav Maga: Contact Combat.
- Cinemax Special: Max on the Set: Enough.
- Deleted scenes with optional director's commentary.
- Filmographies

-- Buying it --
I got my DVD as part of a 2-for-£15 offer in Tesco a few months ago, but whether they still have that on, I don’t know.
HMV have the DVD for £19.99, and the VHS for £5.99, while Amazon.co.uk have the DVD for £7.97 and the VHS for £5.99.
As I mentioned, this was premiered on Sky Movies last night and the next showings are Tuesday 15/06/04, Wednesday 16/06/04 and Friday 18/06/04.

Overall, highly recommended!
 

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