REEL CRITICS

This film is not quite ‘Enough’

“Enough,” starring Jennifer Lopez, is another disappointing attempt by

Hollywood to tackle the issue of domestic violence.

In the film, a waitress named Slim (Lopez) meets a man she thinks is

her Prince Charming in the guise of a rich building contractor named

Mitch (Billy Campbell). The two marry, buy a beautiful house, have a

precious little girl and are on their way to living happily ever after.

But after a few years of marriage, Slim finds out that she did not win

the matrimonial lottery after all. Seemingly overnight, Mitch turns into

a psychopath who frequently likes to cheat on and beat his wife.

Faced with these new unattractive qualities in her husband, Slim

decides that the criminal justice system cannot help her, and she goes on

the run with her child in tow. She changes their identities and their

place of residence whenever Mitch or his band of hired thugs gets too

close.

Slim tries to find refuge with a sensitive ex-boyfriend (Dan

Futterman), the father that she never knew (Fred Ward) and her friends

back at the diner (including her waitress buddy, Ginny, played by

Juliette Lewis), but ultimately she decides that the only way to handle

the situation is to take her hubby on, mono y mono. So with a couple of

martial arts lessons and a trap that smacks of “Home Alone,” she heads

off to kill Mitch in the name of “self-defense.”

Lopez again proves to be a very capable actor, and it is too bad that

this film did not provide her with a better outlet for her talent.

Campbell begins the film playing a nice guy character similar to his work

in movies such as “The Rocketeer” and the television series “Once and

Again,” but then the script turns him into a B-movie villain who only

speaks in cheesy threats and sinister proclamations.

“Enough” is filled with scenes that are suspenseful and exciting, but

in the end it is just a remake of “Sleeping with the Enemy” with Lopez

standing in for Julia Roberts. Rather than using character development

to explore the complexities of an abusive relationship, the film is

content to rely on car chases and fistfights to entertain the audience.

The result is a forgettable summer action movie with a dangerous and

false message to the public that there is no help for battered women and

that their only option is to kill their abuser.

“Enough” is rated PG-13 for intense scenes of domestic violence, some

sensuality and language.* RYAN GILMORE, 27, is a Costa Mesa resident.

Pacino gets sleepless in Alaskan frontier

“Insomnia” is director Christopher Nolan’s first film since the

innovative “Memento” was released last year. This new effort also centers

on the unfolding investigation of a brutal crime, but it’s a much simpler

and more traditional crime drama with Hitchcock overtones. The look and

feel of this movie is definitely on the darker side of film noir, bleak

and foreboding at every turn.

Al Pacino is perfectly cast as Will Dormer, a hardened Los Angeles

homicide detective with a checkered past and missing moral compass. He is

already under investigation by Internal Affairs when he is temporarily

shipped out to Alaska to assist a very small police department with the

unsolved murder of a teenage girl. The village is so far north that the

sun never sets in the six days that Dormer works the case. Unaccustomed

to permanent daylight, Dormer is not able to sleep during all that time.

Pacino completely captures the total exhaustion, mental confusion and

haggard look of his character’s mental decay as the effects of his

insomnia deepen. Robin Williams is sinister as mystery novelist Walter

Finch, a prime suspect in the killing. Finch is trying to frame the

victim’s boyfriend for the murder at the same time Dormer is trying to

frame Finch. Hillary Swank plays the honest local detective who tries to

sort through the murky clues left behind by both of these men.

There’s plenty of moral ambiguity, deception and many frightening

moments that keep the viewer uncomfortable as the plot unfolds. But in

the end, this is a very small movie, almost claustrophobic. It centers

very tightly on the tiny details of the complex psychological interplay

between Pacino and Williams. They are excellent in their roles, but this

film is as depressing and dreary to watch as the cold fog that covers the

Alaskan coast on the screen.

“Insomnia” rated R for language, some violence and brief nudity.

* JOHN DEPKO, 48, is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.