Runaway

"Runaway" is several notches above your normal Saturday night, Lifetime, woman-in-jeopardy thriller.

First notch, Sherry Stringfield is excellent. She faded into the woodwork when part of the ER ensemble and multiple plot lines. She is front and center here as the lead with one story, her story, and you totally believe her performance.

Second notch, Alex Wright is a very good thriller director. He tells the story, without trying to show off. It is clean, it is crisp.

Third notch, the film looks good. Good visuals, good locations, I did not recognize anything from a thousand other Lifetime films. It is all believable and relatable for the story.

Only quibble (no spoilers), the high school women's tennis team shown in the background of several scenes should have been a lot better.

More plot holes and awkward acting then i cared to count. the 17 year hold daughter was obviously well into her mid to late 20's. and there was a scene where these ladies are on a tennis court with there children popping pills and drinking alcohol. WTF, also a drug dealing ex boyfriend from the late 90's hunter her down for 17 years over 10,00 dollars. like what kinda drugs is he on at this moment. the acting was as stale as year old frozen bread. she drove around with black wire tape on her car to hide the brand of the car. which i thought was hilarious. it was suppsed to be a suspence movie. but i laughed so hard it felt like a slapstick comedy.

A real estate woman encounters a nasty man. He wants to know where "Lisa" moved and apparently tortures the information out of the woman. Unless you see a repeat, this opening scene is forgotten before it makes any sense...

After the credits roll, we meet successful businesswoman Sherry Stringfield (as Miranda) and her college-bound daughter Jenna Boyd (as Abby). Mother is overprotective. She avoids the Internet and social media like the plague. Soccer moms are popping pills all around her, but Ms. Stringfield shuns drugs. It turns out Stringfield has good reasons for maintaining privacy and leading the straight life. She has a dark past. Seventeen years earlier, Stringfield was a self-described wild child. She's been running away from her sordid past, but Robin Thomas Grossman (as Rick) is hot on Stringfield's tail. "Runaway" is unbelievable and lacks pizazz.

*** Runaway (9/17/14) Alex Wright ~ Sherry Stringfield, Robin Thomas Grossman, Jenna Boyd, Chris McKenna

I've no idea what some of these reviewers were smoking when they wrote their claptrap. This is one of the worst movies I've seen in years. If the Uruk Hai had kidnapped the daughter and Smaug had decimated the city it would have been no less believable. The old man was the only enjoyable thing about it. If I could rate it zero stars, it would be too many. Utter rubbish.