While it could have easily been a pretty great Lifetime movie of the week, what LILA & EVE has going for it is that it's not what you expect.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 1, 2017

The footage rolls to an ending that is satisfying and makes the time it takes to watch this crime thriller evolve worth the effort. Lila & Eve will someday be a great cable movie. For right now it is a compelling indie film.

| Mar 15, 2017

Davis (who was an executive producer on the film) gives a strong performance, as if she were acting in one of those many prestige projects lighting up her resume. It's a noble try, but this dreck is beyond saving.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 14, 2015

Alas, even a promising premise and a fine actress like Davis can't save an increasingly ludicrous plot. Justice may be served, but screenwriting logic? Not so much.

| Original Score: C | Jul 21, 2015

Davis (who also served as a co-producer) does her damnedest to make something of her character and while not even her undeniable gifts make anything of it, it is oddly inspiring to see her at least making the effort.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 17, 2015

"Lila and Eve" deteriorates into a tawdry shoot-'em-up whose screenplay takes an ill-advised surreal twist that propels the movie deep into the ozone.

| Jul 17, 2015

A mid-point twist is particularly ridiculous, and in an attempt to reconcile this turning point, the final act of the movie becomes a mess.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 16, 2015

A standard-issue female vigilante thriller that's skillfully elevated by the performances of leads Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez.

| Jul 16, 2015

Davis' portrayal of a mother's pain, moving from hopelessness and despair to revenge and regret, gives the picture its impressive power.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2015

In a just world, this deeply compassionate and politically relevant revenge fantasy would do for Viola Davis what last year's Alzheimer's odyssey did for Julianne Moore: deliver a long overdue Oscar to one of the finest actresses of her generation.

| Original Score: 70/100 | Jul 16, 2015

Davis ends up a wasted resource. She does her best to elevate the material, but the story fails to live up to her considerable talents.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 16, 2015

What is vital is Davis' wrenching performance as a mother who's done everything right, but remains powerless to keep her children safe. Then there's Lopez, dialing up slow-burning weariness into a crackling heat, and reminding you why you like her.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 16, 2015

Lila & Eve turns on a third-act plot twist that viewers will be able to guess within the first 10 minutes, but which the movie insists on foreshadowing so incessantly that the reveal becomes redundant.

| Original Score: C | Jul 16, 2015

A ludicrous revenge thriller that should have been called, "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot."

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 16, 2015

It's an actors' piece rather than an action flick, and Davis finds new, moving nuance in the film's familiar beats.

| Jul 14, 2015

It's an instant camp classic, especially because it takes itself so adorably seriously.

| Jul 13, 2015

Charles Stone III's film ultimately succeeds as a convincing social plea, but fails as compelling cinema.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 13, 2015

Davis is the reason this movie stands to be something more than a straight-to-oblivion telepic. We feel her pain, and we want to see justice done.

| Jan 31, 2015