Based on a true story that centers on 16-year-old Agnes “Apple” Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens), Gimme Shelter uncovers the struggle for survival and the hope of redemption through the harsh realities of life on the streets. As a pregnant teenager, Apple’s journey plummets her into a perilous struggle until finding salvation in a suburban shelter for homeless teens. With provisions of unprecedented comfort, a collective sisterhood connection and female empowerment, the shelter elevates Apple to break the shackles of her past and inspires her to embrace the future with clarity, maturity and hope not only for herself but her unborn child.
THE MOVIE“Based on a true story” is a heavy tag for any movie. Either it can inspire a Best Picture win or result in an unengaging mess. Sadly, Gimme Shelter is the latter category. The film starts well: Vanessa Hudgens in her role as Apple, standing alone in a bathroom talking to herself. She is adorned with piercings, bad complexion, and filthy hair, which she starts to cut off. “I’m not scared, I can do this, I’m okay,” she mutters before storming out of the filthy apartment she was in, pushing away the efforts of her mother (Rosario Dawson) to try and keep her there. Jumping into a cab and fleeing, the opening scene conveys well the gritty, dangerous nature of her life as well as her bravery for trying to escape from it.
Sadly, this gripping opening is not sustained. The characters are poorly written, dialogue is clunky, and editing terrible. One act moves into another with no finesse at all. The whole thing comes across as a stilted affair, intended to perhaps inspire people in similar situations — and yet is only likely to make you embarrassed at the result. The subject matter is of course interesting, someone dealt a shitty lot in life, poor upbringing and through the kindness of others made able to pull themselves up. However, the film is lacquered with religious and political commentary with notions of state welfare, abortion and the Church wedged in. The overriding message seems to be “accept God into your life and things will improve,” which is perhaps a oversimplification of matters. I’m sure some would respond to this message but there is no excusing how clunky and heavy handed its delivery is.
Although the script and direction undermines the effort, some of the performances within the film do rise above the material. Vanessa Hudgens, fresh off impressive turns in Frozen Ground and Springbreakers, continues to show us an actor developing her craft and pushing herself. It is a very unglamorous role and while not always convincing, at times it is impressive, never more so than in her interactions with her mother played admirably by Rosario Dawson. Together they produce some emotionally intense and impressive scenes of the film, but there are a few laughable overreactions and behavioral quirks that completely diffuse the drama from the film. Surprisingly Brendan Fraser (playing Apple’s father) is not the worst culprit. Direction and writing are the primary contributing factors. Special mention should also be made for James Earl Jones playing the Chaplain who comes to Apple’s rescue while in a hospital. His brief spot really shows how much weight and class an actor can bring to a production.
As the credits roll you see actual footage of the real woman who ran, Kathy DiFiore, as well as those who lived in the shelter. I can’t help but feel this little insight was perhaps more engaging than this poorly scripted, hackneyed effort. DiFiore was responsible for setting up these Christian shelters for pregnant homeless teens. The scenes within the shelter are amongst the best in the film, the different stories and dynamics with the girls offering more heart and interest than the Apple storyline alone. A film about the efforts of a woman to create a refuge, the struggles, the conflicts to keep it going — that is a better focus that the by-the-numbers effort we actually got.
THE PACKAGEThe film comes on a single Blu-ray disc as well as a code for the increasingly common Ultraviolet copy. As well as the trailer, the film includes a “Making of” featurette which sheds a little light on the making of the film, locations, cast and crew. A few deleted scenes are also thrown in. Transfer and sound are competent enough — crisp enough images to see the horrifying “meth teeth” Rosario Dawson is fitted with that’s for sure.
Fans of Hudgens will probably find something of worthy here. She follows up her last few films by showing a willingness to throw herself into more interesting and grittier roles. She has talent for sure, but perhaps needs to be a little more selective with her choices. But really, there is little that can save this mawkish, badly written excuse of a film. There was something potentially interesting to be done with this story and indeed the wider importance of the women’s shelter but instead it plants itself right into Lifetime movie of the week territory and stays there.
Gimme Shelter is available to buy on Blu-ray from April 29th. An Amazon link to buy is below.
