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Plot:
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Ridiculous, manipulative, and utterly irresistible,
this push-button thriller instantly qualifies
as a guilty pleasure, even when you know it's
just a B-movie potboiler with moxie to spare.
Taking a savvy clue from Ashley Judd's Double
Jeopardy and any number of endangered-female melodramas
from Hollywood's golden age, Jennifer Lopez stars
as a blue-collar beauty who marries the really
wrong guy (Billy Campbell). Eventually, of course,
she discovers his philandering and spends the
rest of the movie in nomadic flight from his hot-tempered
brutality. Bankrolled by her estranged father
(Fred Ward), she protects her young daughter,
but knowing she must face the inevitable showdown
with Campbell, she buffs up with Krav Maga self-defense
courses and... well, we won't spoil the "surprise."
With Campbell doing everything but twirl his mustache,
this shameless provocation is beneath the talents
of director Michael Apted, but with J. Lo in charge,
it's a revenge fantasy that's guaranteed to please.
--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
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©
2004, 