Enough

Plot synopsis:
The film begins in a Los Angeles diner where a waitress named Slim (Jennifer Lopez) works with her best friend, Ginny (Juliette Lewis). She receives unwelcome romantic advances from Robbie, a customer who teases her about her name. Another man in the diner, Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell), reveals that the customer had made a bet that he would be able to convince Slim to sleep with him. Soon after, Slim falls in love with and marries Mitch, and they have a child named Gracie (Tessa Allen). Years later, Slim finds out Mitch has been cheating on her with a French woman named Darcelle. She confronts him and he admits it, but also insisting Darcelle means nothing to him. Slim becomes angry and threatens to leave, which enrages Mitch, who becomes violent, slapping and punching her in the face. He gives her a warning, saying that he makes the money and gets to do whatever he likes, implying he wants an open marriage. Mitch refuses to stop his affair unless she wants to fight him. The next day, Slim confides in Mitch's mother (Janet Carroll); she asks Slim what she did to make Mitch angry, implying he has a history of physical abuse. Ginny advises Slim to leave and imprison Mitch, but Slim does not want to hurt Gracie. She then goes to pick up Gracie from school, only to discover Mitch had already picked her up. Panicked that Mitch might have left town with her, she calls Mitch, who tells her that he took Gracie to the zoo.
During dinner that night, Mitch further insults Slim for confiding in his mother, while staying civil in front of Gracie. Having had enough, Slim plans her escape with her friend's help. However, while escaping late at night, Mitch foils her plan by breaking out of a closet he is hiding in and grabbing her by the hair. He throws her to the ground and begins kicking her in the chest, while Gracie is asleep on the sofa. Slim's friends, waiting outside the house, hear the struggle and break in. Then Mitch threatens them with a gun, before Phil (Christopher Maher) picks up Gracie to use as a witness while exhorting her to look at her father. Unable to shoot the man with Gracie watching him, Mitch lets Slim escape. Slim retreats to a cheap motel, having had her credit cards frozen by Mitch. However, they are only there for a short time before Mitch tracks them down. Slim then goes on the run to Seattle where she briefly stays with her old boyfriend Joe (Dan Futterman). Some of Mitch's friends, disguised as FBI agents, show up at Joe's house claiming to investigate a "kidnapping." She leaves Joe behind and, in need of money, goes to her father (Fred Ward), named Jupiter, who is a wealthy philanderer and does not know about Slim's existence. When Slim informs him she is his daughter, he doesn't believe them and gives them only $12, thinking they are homeless and just want money. Slim leaves, disheartened with Jupiter, and moves with Gracie to Michigan. However, after Jupiter is threatened by Mitch's men, he is piqued by the situation and decides to help. He sends them enough money for a house.
Slim buys a house and changes her name to Erin Ann Shleeter. Although their future looks bright after a visit from Joe, Mitch's friend tracks them down, passing the information on to Mitch. Mitch comes to the area, and hides in Slim's house. As she is going about her morning routine, to her horror, Mitch suddenly appears from the shadows in her hallway, saying he wants Slim back, promising "it will be different." When she refuses, he attacks, waking Gracie, who runs to help her mother, and jerks on his hair. Mitch flings Gracie to the floor, which creates a diversion, and allows an opportunity for Slim to retaliate with pepper spray. Snatching up Gracie, as Mitch rolls on the floor in pain, she is prepared for a fast get-away, having an escape plan. A car chase ensues between Slim and Robbie (Noah Wyle, revealed earlier as Mitch's "wing man" during the encounter at the diner years before) while Gracie screams in the background. Realizing she cannot live her life in fear, Slim goes into hiding in San Francisco, hires a woman who looks like her to keep her cover, and sends Gracie away to Hawaii with her best friend Ginny to get her out of harm's way. She prepares herself with a self-defense trainer (Bruce A. Young) who teaches her Krav Maga, since self-defense is not murder. During her training, he gives Slim the final lesson - if Mitch knocks her down, she is to hold on to his voice and awaken when he is about to attack or kick her. She returns to Los Angeles, breaks into Mitch's new home and waits for him there to return home from work, after hiding his guns and blocking the phone connections, so he cannot call the police. When he arrives, Slim makes her presence known once he realizes someone's there. She approaches him to begin fighting, but when he says he cannot hit her, she asks him why he could do it before when she was defenseless. She provokes him, and in the ensuing fight, Slim uses her new skills, beating Mitch until he becomes unconscious. After an opportunity to kill him with an object, she cannot bear to do it and throws the object away. She calls Ginny saying she cannot kill him, and while on the phone Mitch hits her from behind with a lamp. Slim puts into practice what she learned in her training and trips, beats and kicks him in the chest and sends him off a balcony to his death. She calls the police, who rule her actions as self-defense.
With Mitch no longer a threat, Slim and Gracie go on to live a happy life in Seattle with Joe.

Tags: revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence

Review: