Vanessa Hudgens plays Agnes “Apple” Bailey, a pregnant teen who escapes her previous life of abuse and mistreatment at the hands of her drug-addicted mother (Rosario Dawson). Apple seeks refuge in a shelter built specifically for pregnant teenagers and, while there, builds relationships with the other girls as she learns more about herself and what it means to really be part of a family. Added to this drama is the fact that it is all based on a true story.
If you read that synopsis and thought to yourself, “Wow, that sounds like it’d be a pretty good movie,” you’d be absolutely right. The movie, unfortunately, fails to deliver any more substance than what’s given in my previous paragraph. “Gimme Shelter” is, if you will, one of those examples of something that sounds good on paper but translates poorly to the screen (similar to how I feel about most book-to-film adaptations).
Typically in a “Drama” you get:
Setup
Dramatic buildup,
Resolution.
Any good film in this genre will follow this formula. It’s Storytelling: 101. “Gimme Shelter” does a lackluster job of producing much, if any, “dramatic buildup.” There is a lot of arguing going on — characters yelling at each other — but for the most part, that’s the extent of it. Several times during the film, the characters are faced with a serious dilemmas (Apple being forced to go to an abortion clinic, for instance), but they are almost immediately resolved with no dramatic buildup.
One good example comes between Apple and her mother, but in this situation, there isn't much of a resolution; it left me feeling cheated. I thought, “The one time you get the dramatic buildup right, you give me no resolution.”
“Gimme Shelter” is available on Blu-ray and DVD and might be worth watching if you want to see great performances by Dawson and Hudgens, but nothing more because it’ll leave you feeling a bit incomple…
Film: 2 Yaps Extras: 3.5 Yaps