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GIMME SHELTER – The Review

By Melissa Howland | January 23, 2014

GIMME SHELTER, the new independent drama based on a true story, introduces us to Agnes “Apple” Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens), a young pregnant teen running away from her abusive home in search of a safe place. Shuffled through in and out of foster homes, Apple goes out in search of her father Tom (Brendan Fraser), who left her and her mother June (Rosario Dawson) to fend for themselves after learning about the pregnancy so that he could continue on his life path. Finding him only leads to more heartache as she discovers his family, and life are thriving without her. Left with nowhere else to go, Apple agrees to try out a home for young mothers where she finally learns what family is all about.

While GIMME SHELTER is based on a true story, it’s not Apple’s story. It’s actually based on Kathy DiFiore, founder of the Several Sources Shelters. DiFiore runs several shelters for at risk youths, including pregnant young mothers who find themselves lost and without support. Rather than focusing on all of the work that she has done, they decided to shift the focus, and take us on a journey through the eyes of one of young mothers she saved. This really is a “saved” type of story that tries to be more meaningful than it actually is. This film tries way to hard at being a heartfelt, uplifting story. Everything is in your face and over the top, such as Apple’s running every time she runs away, or how the shelter was just what she needed to wrap her life up in a neat little bow. It felt more life an after-school special by the end, and less like a true story.

Vanessa Hudgens continues to shed her Disney kid roots, and shows a grown up, more developed style of acting while playing Apple. Her performance is incredible. She went through quite the transformation to find the character of Apple, including chopping her locks and gaining weight. Rosario Dawson is always wonderful, although I could have done without her teeth. Seriously, who designed those things? They looked like they were straight out of a cartoon. It left me a bit distracted, and took away from the scenes that she was in. Brendan Fraser has popped up twice this January (GIMME SHELTER and THE NUT JOB). He played his character a little too robotically for my taste. Even if the character was written like that, it was just too blah. I would have liked to have seen him a little too cold, or emotionally complex. Instead, the character was boring and flat.

GIMME SHELTER does has a slight pro-life agenda, but they do a good job of not shoving it in the viewers face. I wish I could say the same about the Christian agenda. This film thumps a bible at the audience whenever it can, overpowering their message of hope. GIMME SHELTER tries too hard, and should have just let the true story tell itself.