Shea Whigham, as a social worker named Parker in “The Gateway,” spends the entire movie looking as if he hasn’t showered in a month. Even after he takes a shower, he still looks like he needs a shower.
You might feel the same way after you watch the movie, a reasonably effective crime film/redemption story set on the gritty, grittier and grittiest streets of St. Louis.
Don’t look for any familiar landmarks, though. The movie’s trailer includes two stock shots of the Gateway Arch, which are two more shots of St. Louis than actually appear in the film, which was entirely shot in Virginia.
Parker has a world-weary expression and permanently pained eyes, the result of a hard life that began, we learn through flashbacks, when he was sent to a foster care institution. Now, as a city social worker, he tries to help keep struggling families together, though frankly he is not in much better shape than they are.
The family he is closest to, mother Olivia Munn and 12-year-old daughter Taegen Burns, has its problems, but these are manageable until the husband and father gets out of jail. As Mike, Zach Avery is sinister and menacing, just itching to get back into the same kind of trouble that landed him behind bars in the first place.
The difference now, though, is if he gets arrested, the sweet daughter will be taken away from her loving mother. How or why that would happen is not a matter that is adequately addressed by the sometimes sloppy script by Alex Felix Bendana, Andrew Levitas and director Michele Civetta.
Bruce Dern stops by for a few scenes as Parker’s estranged father, a subplot that should not come as a surprise to anyone who has noticed that half of all movies have an estranged father and son trying, or trying and failing, to reconcile. It has been that way since Darth Vader announced his parentage to Luke Skywalker in “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980.
Dern has been and still is a fine actor, but he is sadly saddled with all of the movie’s worst and most self-conscious lines. The most grating of these comes when he calls St. Louis a dead city where “nobody has pride, nobody has dreams,” but that his son, Parker, “represents hope.”
No wonder they filmed it in Virginia.
The story, situations and characters are by no means unfamiliar, although the emphasis on foster care is a little unusual. Still, while we may know the territory, Civetta, the director, guides us through it with a generally steady hand.
His best scene, which comes fairly early on, is stunning. It depicts a drug heist, a robbery that starts out surreal and quickly becomes nightmarish. Tensely choreographed and sharply edited, the scene is thrilling and horrifying at the same time.
The climactic action scene, in contrast, is fairly incoherent, and a bizarre coda tacked onto the end only makes you leave the theater feeling a little weird.
It’s an uneven film, though the scale is tipped more to the side of being compelling. Watch it for Whigham’s soulful performance, or the story’s message of hope, sort of, or even for that one, pulsating robbery scene.
Just don’t watch it expecting to see St. Louis.
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'THE GATEWAY'
3 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: R (for strong violence, pervasive language, drug use, some sexual content and nudity)
Running time: 1:31
Where to watch: In theaters, on digital and on demand Friday.
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