Gimme Shelter

Not to be confused with the iconic Rolling Stones song or documentary of the same name, Gimme Shelter is a muddled if well-intentioned examination of the perils of child abuse and teenage pregnancy.

Those are lofty ambitions. Yet for all of its heavy-handed huffing and puffing, the low-budget drama doesn’t have much meat to its message.

The film follows Apple (Vanessa Hudgens), a streetwise but socially withdrawn 16-year-old who leaves her abusive, drug-addicted mother (Rosario Dawson) and tracks down her father (Brendan Fraser), an affluent Wall Street broker with a new family that wants nothing to do with her or her unborn child.

Obstinate yet emotionally fragile, the tomboyish Apple decides she will keep the baby, so she hits the streets of New Jersey for a probable life of crime and prostitution until she’s rescued by a hospital chaplain (James Earl Jones).

He refers her to a Christian shelter for girls with similar issues, both physically and emotionally. There she finds a compassionate environment run by a former homeless woman (Ann Dowd) that allows her to begin social interaction with her peers.

The earnest approach of director Ron Krauss, who also wrote the screenplay, strives for gritty authenticity. There are some worthwhile issues here. It’s loosely based on the heartbreaking stories of a couple of actual girls from a real shelter, and perhaps a documentary on the topic would have been more effective.

Yet as a fictional exploration of the foster-care and social-work systems, the film lacks depth and accountability. As Apple’s situation grows worse, the film doesn’t spend much time scrutinizing poor choices, instead opting for political and religious grandstanding.

Give Hudgens (Spring Breakers) credit for an audacious performance that will further help to distance her from the days of the wholesome High School Musical franchise. Here, she not only eschews glamor, but she gets beneath Apple’s dirty fingernails, unkempt hair and facial piercings.

Gimme Shelter is most effective in its quieter and more reflective moments, which cause both Apple and the audience to ponder her past and future. But too often its compelling central figure is compromised by pro-life didacticism and watered-down melodrama. Mick Jagger would not approve.

Rated PG-13, 101 minutes.