Vanessa Hudgens takes another stride away from her Disney and “High School Musical” past, playing a homeless, pregnant teen in a clunky movie that feels as if it’s underwritten by the Roman Catholic Church.
Call it the anti-“Philomena.”
“Gimme Shelter” relays the true story of Agnes “Apple” Bailey, a 16-year-old with a drug-addicted mom (Rosario Dawson) and little knowledge of her dad, whose address she has on a cherished, years-old envelope. After drastically cutting her own hair — it’s never clear why — and getting into a fistfight with her terrible mother, Apple heads to New Jersey to ask her dad (Brendan Fraser) for a place to crash.
He’s wealthy and wants to help, but his new family has trouble adjusting to Apple’s presence — understandable, given that she’s basically feral from years of abuse. Hudgens throws herself into the role (what actor doesn’t love to ugly up?), but director Ron Krauss (“Amexica”) isn’t much for subtlety. You can tell Apple’s state of mind from her straggly pixie: The greasier her hair, the more dire the straits.
Once the secret comes out that she’s pregnant, her businessman father takes a turn for the cold-hearted, telling her she should “turn the page on this and forget it ever happened.” Cut to her appointment at an abortion clinic, where a hostile and pushy nurse tells Apple to hurry up and get ready for the doctor (because women’s clinics are so notorious for their antipathy toward pregnant teens?).
Understandably, Apple flees again, only to end up in an accident. Her counselor at the hospital is a priest (James Earl Jones) who, in his velvety bass, imparts vague sentiments that feel as if they’ve had God references edited out of them. It’s the same story at the shelter for pregnant teens, where owner Kathy (Ann Dowd) never actually lectures the girls (who include Dascha Polanco of “Orange Is the New Black”) about Jesus — she just surrounds them with praying-hands imagery and takes them to church, where they’re paraded around with buckets to ask for donations. And she’s the good guy.
Apple’s unhinged mom resurfaces at the shelter, attempting to cajole her daughter back home. It’s frustrating to see Dawson in this role. I think her intentions are noble, particularly given her high-profile support for the Lower East Side Girls Club, which does an awful lot to help lower-income local young women. But her character, too, is hopelessly over-the-top, from her lip-chewing rants to, later, her improbable stalking of her daughter at church.
The polarizing moral of this tale, I guess, is that when your family screws you over, a Catholic charity will be there to pick up the pieces. But the inferences it makes are puzzling: Apple’s decision to forgo returning to her dad’s and go back to the teen shelter is meant to be a triumph, but — really? How long is that situation going to be feasible?
These are not questions we’re meant to ask. All you need to know is, by the end of the film, Apple’s hair is squeaky clean — just like her soul.