Iraq veteran Anthony Hayward is so tough he can take a blow to the gut from a police flashlight, but on the inside he’s pure jelly. So is this movie, with Anthony (Martin Papazian, who also directs) taking young Wade (Tristan Lake Leabu) under his wing when the boy’s junkie mother dies.
Leabu doesn’t overdo the wounded-urchin bit, although he can’t muster the depth needed for the big scenes. Papazian (who acted in “Jarhead”) has cultivated an old-fashioned guy with a Clint Eastwood-like demeanor. But when Laura San Giacomo shows up as the social worker — all fast, brash talk delivered in that low-pitched throaty voice — her screen presence is so strong it shows what everyone else is missing.
Papazian checks most of the indie boxes with his directing debut: low-income milieu, current-events relevance, respectable performances (and one delightful one, from San Giacomo). But the results are too predictable.