"Restraining Order," on its own, is a powerful and often moving film. Reggie Gaskins makes an ingratiating and positively manly lawyer/hero. Sean Blakemore contributes alternating fire and sensitivity to his role as the picture's abusive husband. Gaskins's script is forceful and deftly builds suspense, and, as director, he deftly creates an ever- increasing mood of tension. Yet towering above it all, making the greatest impression is Robin Givens's performance as abused wife Diane McNeil. In her early scenes with Gaskins, she makes us feel her closeness and affection for him. In her scenes with Blakemore, she has us believing that her life with him has been sheer hell. And when she breaks down and acknowledges that her claims that she has been repeatedly abused by him were exaggerated out of her frustration that she "wasn't happy," her vulnerability and incisiveness has us not only not hating her but wanting to reach out our arms to her (Also: She fills her scenes with her son with motherly warmth and familial love). Such films as "Boomerang" and "Head of State" and "Flip the Script" have freely displayed Robin's rich talent for comedy. "Restraining Order," like her made-for-TV flick "The Penthouse," openly shows off her chops as a dramatic actress. And all of the aforementioned films clearly prove that Robin Givens deserves to be known not as "The Most Hated Woman in America" but as "The Most Talented Black Woman in America."
