Have You Had Enough Yet?

"How come you haven't posted anything?"

"When are you gonna update your blog?"

"Are you gonna write about this movie?"

ENOUGH!

But unlike Jennifer Lopez I can't just kill the source of my annoyance.

For those not familiar with Jennifer Lopez's 2002 movie about a woman who decides to fight back against her obsessed and abusive husband, Enough is a movie you should see just for the fact that Noah Wyle (yes, ladies, Dr. John Carter, or for the nerdy women, Flynn Carsen) plays a bad guy. As a woman, it's a scary reality that such men and relationships like that exist in the world. I don't know what men can take away from the movie except to learn Krav Maga in case your wife tries to kill you.

Like most movies, at the heart of it this story is about family and how strongly Lopez's husband, Mitch played by Bill Campbell, believes in the family unit.

What a happy looking couple. During the scene pictured above, Mitch asks Slim (Lopez) if she's going to give him lots of babies. Truly he is a family man. When he first holds his baby girl, his whole world is filled with only her. Despite the burden of a successful construction company weighing down on his broad shoulders, he turns off his cell phone and cuts off contact from a potentially profitable business deal.

Mitch does what he can to please Slim once they are married. She doesn't have to spend eight hours a day on her feet waiting tables at a small diner anymore. He is rich and successful enough that Slim doesn't have to work. He drove them around neighborhoods until she finally finds a house that she likes; a house that she can see them living as a happily family. She wants it, it's hers. Mitch is the one that makes it so. The fact that a family is already living in it and it's not for sale makes no never mind to him. Mitch provides for his family, no questions asked.

When Slim runs away with his child, Mitch goes to all sorts of crazy lengths to reunite his family. He still wants Slim and he never wanted to give up his daughter. He contacts Slim's friends to find her. Mitch even gets his cop friend (Noah Wyle) to help him track down Slim and his daughter so that he can bring them back home.

Now you might say, "wait, he tries to kill Slim. How is that preserving the family unit?" She was running around the country with his child. Slim clearly did not want to be part of his family unit. But as long as she was alive, Mitch wouldn't be able to have true custody of his daughter. Mitch would rather have his daughter with him and his wife dead than have his family just consist of himself. 2 > 1 is an indisputable truth.

As alarming as Mitch's determination might be, you have to agree that it's nice to be wanted, right?

Mitch is a man that is not afraid of commitment or the responsibilities of being a husband and a parent, while at the same time bearing all the financial burden of his family. So he suffers from an obsessive mental disorder, but when that obsession drives your determination to see things through, I think there's some applause due. Mitch Hiller: the ideal family man from a time when it was all right for husbands to hit their wives. Evilness: 2 for wife-beating because we live in a time when it is not legal or socially acceptable.

Someone Has Mother Issues...

Lately Kindergarten Cop has been showing on cable. How can anyone not like this Schwarzenegger classic? Especially with famous lines like, "Who is my daddy and what does he do?" or "Boys have a penis, and girls have a vagina." Probably where I first learned that important aspect of human physiology. However Schwarzenegger and little kids aside, I'm here to discuss the portrayal of Cullen Crisp, the misunderstood man who just wanted a family.

Crisp is just a simple man that wants his family back. He's willing to lie, cheat and kill to reunite with his family. What, you think that's wrong because he's breaking the rules of civilised men? But he's doing it all for his family...One could only wish more men were as devoted to their families as Cullen Crisp.

Once free from lockup, Crisp and his mother-something I'll address later-rush off for Astoria to reunite with his estranged wife and son. He goes about procuring a present for his son while Crisp's mother, Eleanor, purchases pharmaceuticals to ensure that Dominic, Crisp's son, grows up healthy and protected from disease. Crisp also visits Dominic's school to confirm his child's educational needs are being met (okay, that is arguable). But overall, Crisp seems like a caring and wanna-be-involved father.

Crisp finally introduces himself to Dominic, who had grown up with lies regarding his father's identity. In just that brief moment of peace in the health room, Crisp is full of paternal pride at the fact that he is father to such a smart and strong, young boy.

When cornered in the locker room by Kimble, Crisp threatens to kill his own son to get the upper hand, but it's an obvious bluff. Crisp knows that Kimble cannot do anything to endanger a hostage's life even though we all know Crisp isn't crazed enough to murder his own son. That's been his driving force for the past several years. Really though, there is no chance for Crisp after this point.

If Cullen Crisp isn't the villain in this movie, who is? Eleanor Crisp, his mother. Ha, you probably thought I was going to twist it around and blame Kimble. But yes, the true bad guy in the movie is Eleanor with her overbearing motherhood. Even though her own son is a hardened and grown man, she still plays a very active role in his life as the forever disapproving mother.

Based on their on-screen interactions, it is also clear that Crisp is still a child in the relationship. Like his mother, he is neatly dressed with his hair tidily pulled back in a ponytail. He wears a fully-buttoned dress shirt without a tie. Maybe I'm missing something due to a generational fashion gap, but that still looks like momma's boy fashion to me...

One could even argue that it is the desire of Eleanor for her grandson that drives Crisp to the lengths that he goes. Crisp desires her approval, exemplified by such moments as when he proudly shows the gift he procured for his son, like a little boy always searching for some praise from a cold mother. And if Eleanor wants her grandson, Crisp would try his best to make it happen if he thought it would make her happy.

Even until the end, with her own son shot dead in the locker room showers, she threatens Kimble for the whereabouts of her grandson, all the while shooting rounds off near Kimble's head. Realizing that Kimble doesn't know nor would he ever tell her, she resolves herself to kill him. And would have too, had it not been for Joyce bashing her with a baseball bat.

I didn't specialize in psychology, however it is clear that Cullen Crisp suffers from psychological and emotional issues stemming from his relationship with his mother. Yes he committed some evil acts, but that does not brand him as the evil villain? Not really, because honestly, what villain still hangs out with his mom? Cullen Crisp, momma's boy extraordinaire. Evilness: 3 Evil.