A year after Jennifer Lopez starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in 2001’s The
Wedding Planner and said “I do” to rom-coms, she charmed Ralph Fiennes’s status-
seeking politician as a single-mum hotel cleaner in Maid In Manhattan. But if you
want to see early 2000s-era Lopez truly shine, look no further than the gruelling final
act of Enough, the thriller she starred in that same year.
With her face stripped of make-up and sporting an uncharacteristic pixie cut, Lopez
engages in a bone-crunching physical battle with co-star Billy Campbell. It is raw, it is
ugly, and it remains a movie version of JLo we rarely see: vulnerable yet undeniably
lethal.
This gritty performance largely flew under the radar when it hit theatres in 2002, the
time the JLo phenomenon was reaching a fever pitch. That same year, along with
the premiere of quintessential Cinderella story Maid In Manhattan, she gifted the
world her hit third album, This is Me…Then, and embarked on the first act of her
longtime, headline-dominating, off-and-on romance with Ben Affleck.
Having been wooed at least nine times in film – and wed four times in real life,
including her most recent high-profile divorce from Affleck – Lopez is undoubtedly
Hollywood’s most prolific bride. However, the star has often expressed frustration at
being pigeonholed as a glamorous woman perpetually in search of love.
When Lopez released Enough, she wasn’t just making a thriller; she was attempting
a genre pivot that has become a rite of passage for rom-com queens. Much like
Lopez, box-office female stars such as Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock
all faced industry resistance when they waded into darker waters. Enough sits in
stark contrast to that “sweetheart” narrative – and even to her upcoming Netflix
project, Office Romance.
Directed by the late Michael Apted, Enough follows Slim (Lopez), a waitress who
must transform herself into a lean, mean fighting machine to protect herself and her
daughter from her abusive husband, Mitch (Campbell). Lopez was drawn to the role
because she viewed it as a female Rocky – an empowering story about finding the
internal strength to change a desperate situation.
To make the climactic showdown with Campbell believable, Lopez spent three
months training in Krav Maga, a form of quick self-defence. She told MTV News at
the time that the technique “levels out the playing field between men and women
where it doesn’t matter how big or tall or strong you are” by using an opponent’s own
weight and momentum against them.
By combining physical preparation with emotional fortitude, Lopez wanted to give
women in the audience a sense of strength. “In the movie, the circumstances are
very extreme, although such fights do happen in real life,” Lopez told The Christian
Science Monitor.
“For me, [the film] does have a message… No matter how bad the
situation gets, you have the power to change it or to get out of it. The only person
you can look to is yourself, and that’s what the character does.”
While the film was initially met with lukewarm reviews from critics who couldn’t see
past her pop-star persona, it has since gained a significant cult following. Modern
audiences now recognise the impressive range and physical commitment Lopez
brought to the role.
Despite her massive commercial success, Lopez told Elle magazine in 2023 that she
has spent her career fighting to be seen as more than a maid or a housekeeper by
casting agents. “I want to tell the gamut of stories,” she said. “Uplifting, empowering
stories and entertaining stories, and gangster movies. I want to do everything that
men do. I want to do all of it.”
Films like Enough, the 1998 thriller Out Of Sight, as well as her recent powerhouse
turns in Hustlers and The Mother, are concerted efforts to prove she is capable of
being more than just the love interest who needs rescuing. “I think that’s insulting,”
she told Elle, pointing out that women “have been leaders of countries. We have run
empires; we have done all of these things throughout history, and we should tell all
of those stories.”
That isn’t to say Lopez has turned her back on the genre that made her a household
name. Her Netflix rom-com Office Romance, which teams her with Ted Lasso’s Brett
Goldstein, proves she still believes in the power of a good love story – as long as it’s
on her own terms.