Cine Beaverhausen: Viola Davis Meets Jennifer Lopez in Lila & Eve

Lila & Eve is kind of the 2015 version of  Lipstick. That 1974 film, starring Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, was about vigilante action taken by a fashion model against a serial rapist after the legal system fails her. Drubbed by critics, it was a big box-office success that year.

Lila & Eve, screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2015, was released theatrically July 17, though not very widely. It may, I suspect, be on the fast track to home video. I saw it tonight on a promo dvd, and it is by no means a bad movie but certainly not a great one.

In this film, Viola Davis (as Lila) co-stars with Jennifer Lopez (as Eve). As always, Viola throws caution to the wind and emotes like there's no tomorrow. Ms Lopez is... umm... Ms Lopez. Actually, she seems to be influenced by her co-star to raise the bar on her thespianism a bit, and certainly cannot be accused of hamming it up. Her naturalism is put to good use, in fact. Still, dramatically, they're no doubt an odd couple.

The plot revolves around two mothers whose sons were gunned down in a drive-by shooting by a gang. No sooner than JLo says Lila, Get Your Gun, Viola's got a pistol in her purse because, after all, she knows How to Get Away with Murder. Complications ensue. Not your typical "chick flick."

The movie scores points as both a drama and an action flick, and I recommend you give it a -- ahem! -- shot when you can download or rent it on video.

Click on the trailer below: