In this pedestrian thriller, Jennifer Lopez goes from battered housewife to avenging fury, covering pretty much the same turf that Julia Roberts did in Sleeping with the Enemy back in 1991. Mitch (Once and Again's Billy Campell), a charming construction magnate, performs a ballsy act of chivalry at the diner where Slim (Lopez) works. It leads to marriage, a house in the 'burbs, and (as the film shuttles us through the happy days) an adorable five-year-old daughter (Tessa Allen).

Then come the infidelities, the maniacal oppression, and the love taps that leave bruises. Terrified and fed up, Slim takes the child and goes on the lam, but Mitch, being the obsessive control freak that he is, unearths her at every turn -- if US Intelligence had these resources, Osama bin Laden would have been bagged and tagged months ago. There's legal mumbo-jumbo that favors Mitch, and the cops are on his tab too, so Slim gets lean and mean -- she's a near Catwoman in her butt-busting black leotard -- and goes on the offensive. Lopez gives a compelling performance despite the preposterous material; Campbell is a hyperbolic caricature necessary to spur the plot. Director Michael Apted underplays the obvious, and the result is surprisingly watchable for something that should have had studio heads screaming "Enough!" before it ever got started. At the Apple Valley, Entertainment, Flagship, Holiday, Hoyts, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.