Lila & Eve

Nice movie. I won't give away any spoilers here, but there were a couple of nice turns with J Lo and what happened at the end with women's group and the cop. There were several other movies this reminded me of, but I won't tell because it could spoil it for you. The acting was nice and impressive. There were a few slow scenes and the women tracking down of some of the hoods was a little too easy, but overall it was worth watching.

It's a touching and dramatic theme, and for that alone it has some merit and will appeal to some more than others. The movie feels a bit slow in the beginning, with the heavy drama, until it picks up about 40 minutes into it. Once I've made it that far, I became more interested and of course wanted to see how it ended. There was also a surprise that caught me off guard. Not the movie I'd save for the weekend, but it was satisfactory to watch overall. I thought that Viola and Jennifer did a good job.

One thing that the movie didn't do so well is the relationship between characters. Of course it's expected that the focus should be on the mother, but their interactions with others would have more depth if they developed the other characters a bit more.

Viola Davis delivers a strong performance in this roller coaster story of a single parent raising two sons, when one is inexplicably shot dead. Despite crippling grief she brings herself to pressure the detective assigned to the case, but to little avail. She then uses the few facts she has to find out on her own how and why this happened. Although almost driven mad with grief, she nevertheless exhibits considerable rationality, and courage, as she has to navigate in a world of street gangs and thugs. She meets Eve (Lopez) at a support group, who turns out to be a terrific ally in this foolhardy exploit. As a duo, these women are unstoppable. Viola shows remarkable range in this convincing portrait of a woman scorned and a mother who lost a good son to random violence. Jennifer delivers one of her best performances as her partner in a quest for justice. Also commendable is Shea Whigham as the not-so-clueless detective, who keeps tabs on these women and their possibly illegal exploits. This film has plenty of heart, suspense, and ultimately, wisdom.

"Maybe we could help each other." Lila (Davis) is a loving mother who has just lost her son in a drive by shooting. She is frustrated at the lack of evidence as to who and why and is getting upset at the police who do not seem to be doing all they should. She joins a grieving mothers support group and meets Eve (Lopez) who has also lost a child. When she tells Lila they should track down the killer themselves things become violent, and Lila and Eve do all they can to avenge their lost children. This is a movie that started out with so much promise but began to become repetitive and lose its edge the longer it went on. The movie is still very good and worth seeing but the movie Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon was very similar, and I though much better. The biggest fault I have with this movie is that it was geared toward the Lifetime movie crowd but added enough to make it an R rating. The movie never really makes it out of the Lifetime feel and to me that hurt it. Overall, not a bad movie and worth seeing, but essentially a hard edge Lifetime movie that doesn't really appeal to everyone like it should. I give this a B.

While this film won't win an Academy Award or any other glamorous award for that matter, it is a good film. The cast, for the most part, is what makes it as good as it is. The emotion and drama that's displayed by Viola Davis' character is flawless. Viola Davis, as usual, gives a wonderful performance in this film along side Jennifer Lopez. Although Jennifer Lopez's performance isn't as high caliber as Viola Davis' they both made a great pair in this film. Not anything different or original, this film is about two women who seek out and take revenge on the men who murdered their sons, it's that simple, or is it. Fairly written with some drama and a nice plot twist this film is enough to be enjoyed.