Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker , based on child development research. How do we rate?
age 14+
Domestic violence action tale starring JLo; language, peril.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
-
Language
a lot
"F--k," "s--t," "bitch," "piss," "pee," "d--k," and "ass."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
-
Violence & Scariness
some
Mitch and a friend ensnare women, sleep with them, and leave them. Mitch hits Slim when she threatens to leave because he regularly cheats on her. While Mitch is beating Slim, their daughter tells him to stop and pulls his hair. He pushes the girl away and she lands with a thud on the floor. Mitch threatens Slim's friends with a gun when they try to help Slim leave him. Mitch and Slim fight it out, with lots of blood, breaking lots of glass, and wrecking a home. Eventually one of them falls over a balustrade. A man in a large truck tries to drive a smaller car off the road. He eventually hits a low overhead and emerges from the truck bleeding. Someone gets maced.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
-
Sex, Romance & Nudity
a little
A man's butt is seen briefly. A man cheats on his wife and his girlfriends.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
-
Positive Role Models
a little
Slim is resourceful and determined. Mitch is an entitled, abusive, misogynistic jerk.
-
Diverse Representations
a little
Smart and powerful Black men play important secondary roles. The heroine is Latina. The theme is female empowerment. At first a woman is seen to be a victim, but she becomes her own active savior. One man is represented as an abuser but many men are depicted as sympathetic and helpful. "I make the money here so I make the rules," says a misogynist husband to the wife he's cheating on.
Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.
-
Positive Messages
very little
Do what you can to escape a dangerous situation.
-
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Enough is a 2002 drama about domestic violence. Jennifer Lopez plays an abused wife who grabs her small child and runs away from her abusive, gun-toting husband. When she can no longer hide from him, she hatches a plan to stop him once and for all. A man beats his wife. He threatens her life and the lives of her friends. While he is beating the wife, the daughter pulls his hair and he throws the girl to the ground. A driver deliberately tries to drive another car off the road. A bloody fight between a man and woman is the climax. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "bitch," "piss," "pee," "d--k," and "ass." A man's butt is seen briefly. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Enough
- Parents say
- Kids say (1)
There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What's the Story?
In ENOUGH, Slim (Jennifer Lopez) has left college to waitress. She meets wealthy and assertive Mitch (Billy Campbell) and is swept off her feet. They marry quickly and soon have a 3-year-old. When Slim discovers that Mitch has been having affairs, he unleashes his violent temper and previously hidden domineering nature, making it clear that now he will carry on his affairs without hiding them. When Slim says she won't tolerate that behavior, he slaps her around. Convinced that involving the police will just make Mitch mad and do her no good, Slim escapes in the middle of the night with the help of friends. Mitch cuts her off financially, sends threatening goons posing as FBI agents to track her and her friends down, and sues for custody. With the help of her wealthy father, Slim implements a costly plan to neutralize Mitch involving intensive martial arts training, acquiring burglary skills, and achieving knowledge of electronic gadgetry. She is prepared to end his predatory ways for good. Can she do it?
Is It Any Good?
The inspiring theme of Enough is female empowerment, but that doesn't make it believable. Drenched in a horror movie score, with music leading us to fear what's behind a perfectly innocent shower curtain, most of this is low-level, manipulative exploitation. Tension is contrived in unnecessary scenarios -- in one high-speed chase, a driver tries to push another car off the road. Isn't there enough intrinsic tension in the story of an uncontrollably violent man trying to kill his escaped wife? The theme of female rights gets lost in the effort to make this appealing beyond the subset of aggrieved women to everyone who loves action movies. This is one of many bad decisions that derails the movie's solid starting point -- an exploration of domestic abuse. On the subject of bad judgment, one wonders what committee dreamt up randomly displaying titles every now and then, including "our happy family," "more than enough," "get out," and "new leaf"?
When Slim decides to fight back, 80 minutes into the action, there's a shift from the worrying story of a woman on the run from her unhinged husband to quasi-Olympic training mode. In an utterly implausible plan that depends on oh-so-many variables lining up perfectly, Slim trains to beat up and possibly kill her tall, fit, unrelenting spouse. The big plus here is that at least in this mode the repetitive theme of Slim running from the fearsome Mitch every time she finds a new home comes to an end.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about domestic abuse. What do you think of this portrayal? Does it feel realistic? Why or why not?
Unlike many women in violent situations, Slim wants to leave. According to the movie, what are some of the mistakes she made in her efforts to get away from her abuser?
Does the ending feel satisfying? Does it seem plausible?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: May 24, 2002
- Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Billy Campbell, Juliette Lewis
- Director: Michael Apted
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Latino actors
- Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 114 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG-13
- MPAA explanation: intense scenes of domestic violence, some sensuality, and language
- Last updated: August 11, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Enough
Suggest an Update
Your privacy is important to us. We won't share this comment without your permission. If you chose to provide an email address, it will only be used to contact you about your comment. See our privacy policy.
