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THE RUNNER (2022)
Director: Michelle Danner Cast: Edouard Philipponnat, Kerri Medders, Cameron Douglas, Nadji Jeter, Jessica Amlee, Elisabeth Röhm, Eric Balfour MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:42 Release Date: 8/19/22 (limited); 8/23/22 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 18, 2022 The protagonist of The Runner is a privileged teen from a wealthy, if broken, family who sells a variety of illicit drugs for money he probably doesn't need. Well, he does need it to run from the cops, who are planning to use him as an informant. Aiden (Edouard Philipponnat) either is going to prison or has to rat on some people who won't appreciate it, to say the least. He actually might have other plans for the cash he has made by selling drugs. While that other reason at least has nobility to it, Jason Chase Tyrrell's screenplay almost feels as if it has devised it as an afterthought to make the protagonist more sympathetic. He's still not, partly because the alternative rationale for his selling drugs, mostly to teenagers, also feels like a contradiction but mostly because all of his problems are of a bigger mess he has created for himself. It happens, and maybe we'd have a bit more sympathy for a character in a similar situation—one who doesn't, for example, have a family beach house where he could lay low and relax if things get really bad. Instead, we're stuck with Aiden, who's played with a lot of quiet regret and simmering resentment by Philipponnat in a performance that does exactly what it needs to do to give this character a sense of inner turmoil, persistent guilt, and mounting desperation. The problem here isn't the actor. It's the character, who's called spoiled and other such things by the police detective (played by Cameron Douglas) who wants the teen to record a transaction with a local drug dealer. In theory, the cop is the antagonist here, but in practice, he's as right in his assessment of Aiden as he is wrong in his tactics of putting the young man—as well as a bunch of other teens at a party—in significant peril. The story revolves around the build-up to the sting, as Aiden sells drugs at their high school with his friend Blake (Nadji Jeter), plans the party (while his mother, played by Elisabeth Röhm, is away on business) with his girlfriend Liz (Jessica Amlee), and mopes around because of a tragic romance from his past with Layla (Kerri Medders). She isn't dead, despite her later appearance in the form of an angel, but her life has been severely altered by Aiden's drug habit. The big bag of cash he has might not end up as an escape fund, but the way Aiden obtains it surely shows that, for all of his remorse, he hasn't learned a damn thing from his experiences. Director Michelle Danner frames the formulaic mechanics of The Runner as a tragedy-in-the-making, as Aiden's circumstances back him into a tighter and tighter corner. Said corner is in a mansion, though, so the degree of difficulty and desperation here comes across as more than a bit disingenuous. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
strong teen drug and alcohol use, pervasive language and some violence)
