I was hesitant about "Enough" because it starred Jennifer Lopez. I had seen J. Lo in "The Cell" and "Angel Eyes" and had been quite disappointed by her acting skills. Also, most critics in the United States gave "Enough" a bad review. But for me the movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise and I loved it!
Jennifer Lopez not only looks good but is maturing as an actress. Although the story is both ordinary and predictable, it justifies its classification as a thriller by keeping the audience totally enthralled for the entire running time.
"Enough" is the story of a woman, Slim (Jennifer Lopez), who works as a waitress in a diner. She considers herself the luckiest person on earth when a rich, handsome man named Mitch (Billy Campbell) becomes romantically involved with her and asks her to marry him. Slim settles down with Mitch in his beautiful mansion and leads a privileged life. The couple have a pretty daughter, Gracie (Tessa Allen). By accident, thanks to the redial button on the mobile phone, Slim discovers that her husband is having an affair. When she confronts him with it, he becomes physically abusive.
Slim then takes her daughter and hides in a friend’s apartment. But Mitch tracks her down and Slim then hooks up with a battered women’s group. The organization gives her a new identity — complete with new driver’s license and social security card. Here too, however, she is found out. Ultimately, she gets tired of running, hiding and changing appearances. The police and the legal system seem unable to help her. It is then that Slim decides she has had enough. She decides to fight back.
What follows next is typically stereotypical — Slim takes a crash course in self defense. She turns into something of a Jet Li and an FBI agent rolled into one. She goes into her husband’s house and cuts the telephone wires. She plays dirty by planting fake incriminating letters which suggest that her husband was indeed abusive. Then there is the final confrontation: A big, violent fight between the two. The husband appears to be dead at one point but as in most Hollywood movies, he gets up for one final attack, just when the audience thinks the movie is ending. But by this time, the audience is so emotionally involved with the battered victim that the trite goings-on in the film bothers nobody.
There is nothing new in "Enough". Still the director, Michael Apted, has come up with a wonderful film. We are swept into the emotions of a battered wife and her struggle to escape. The fight sequences are violent and are certainly different from what one normally sees between a man and a woman. "Enough" is rated PG-13 for language and violence. It is a movie that won’t disappoint you.
— Arab News Features 9 January 2003
