Running Away (2017 Lifetime)

Running Away (2017 Lifetime)

Cast: Holly Deveaux, Paula Trickey, Madison Lee Brown, William McNamara

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Starring Holly Deveaux and Paula Trickey. When Peg’s daughter Maggie runs away, she knows she has to find her fast. But to do this, she must come to terms with the dark secrets that led to Maggie’s fleeing… Peg’s new husband.

Thoughts

The movie begins with a woman tied to a chair while being held at gunpoint by a man. Another woman runs off with her baby.

Cut to a jerk in a red sports car honking at shirtless teenage boys. They get into an argument, and the shirtless teen calls the man a “tool.” (Haha, what the hell is happening.) The jerk’s name is Richard (Which is appropriate cause he is a dick.) He is on his way to meet up with his new girlfriend, Peg. Peg’s daughter Maggie, like everyone else, thinks Richard sucks.

With their mom out on a date with Richard, Maggie, and her kid sister Lizzie, they go to the lake to see a boy Maggie likes named Tony. (The shirtless teen from earlier.) Maggie makes out with Tony and drinks beers with her friend Erica.

Meanwhile, on their date, Richard proposes, and Peg says no at first out of shock. (Freudian slip?) She comes around and is thankful to have a partner in her life, even if it is Richard. (Sorry to William McNamara, but he always plays a jerk so well. I’m sure he is a nice guy.) Peg tells her daughters about the engagement, and they are shocked and can barely pretend to be happy.

Now that they are a big unhappy family, they all go camping. Richard tells the girls that they are moving into his house, and then he yells at Lizzie for burning marshmallows. He threatens them and tells his new stepdaughters not to “push him.” Late a night, Maggie goes to the bathroom and notices someone watching her… Ummmm no. It is probably Richard.

When they get back, Peg and Maggie get into an argument, and Peg slaps her daughter. Maggie goes to the lake and drowns her sorrows with booze. Then she beats Tony up for hooking up with another girl. Erica drags a drunk Maggie home, and Peg is horrified. Maggie throws up on Richard’s shoes, and he freaks out on her. Peg is disappointed in her daughter even more.

They move into Richard’s McMansion, and he greets them in a robe. Richard is quick to point out his office is off-limits, and he has very expensive artwork/baseball bats that no one is allowed to touch. Maggie notices Richard looking at her inappropriately and tests him by stretching to see if he checks her out. (He does.)

Maggie starts at a new school and is paired with a dorky kid named Chip as her peer mediator. He invites her to a hacking party… like a computer hacking club? Chip is a strange dude. He is also Richard’s pool boy. Maggie defends Chip when he is bullied and gets suspended for three days for fighting and for dressing slutty?

When everyone leaves the house, Maggie downs a ton of booze while playing pool and also swimming in the pool, she wanders around the house and goes through her mother and Richard’s things. She finds an old Journal of her mothers with a missing person flyer inside for Peggy Lewis.

When Richard comes home, he checks the security footage and sees Maggie drinking his beer; he confronts her while she is naked in the shower. (Ummm, WHAT!) He tells her to stop coming onto him/stealing from him. Richard uses the beer as blackmail against Maggie, so she does not tell her mother about his inappropriate behavior.

Things get worse (Trigger warning.) when Richard pours drinks for Maggie and roofies her. He takes pictures of her and rapes her!!! Then Maggie cuts herself… (Oh my god, this is fucking dark. WTF.) Maggie warns her sister to stay away from Richard.

When Maggie comes back to school, Chip notices something is wrong and tells Maggie that she needs help. She opens up about the abuse, and Chip tells her that he will help her get out of the situation. Maggie decides that she is going to run away after Richard rapes her again. Chip helps her hack into Richard’s security system and finds footage of the rape. Maggie takes pictures as evidence.

On the bus out of town, Maggie meets a stoner named Chuck. He invites her to stay at his place with his sister and her baby. They are both druggies and shouldn’t have a baby in the house. Maggie ends up watching the kid full time. Maggie gets a job at a bar and is now living with drug dealers.

The family is worried about Maggie running off. Richard is more concerned that Maggie and Chip broke into his office and saw what was on his computer. He grabs his gun, destroys his hard drive, and beats the crap out of Chip to find out where Maggie is. Chip tells Peg and Lizzie that they need to go to the police because Richard was abusing Maggie.

Maggie’s new drug dealer friends are in trouble with some masked gunmen. One of them is Richard. He shoots everyone and ties Maggie up. He threatens to beat her with a bat and then steals her phone. Just as he is about to shoot Maggie, the gun misfires. Peg shows up and takes Richard out with the bat. She apologizes to her daughter for not realizing Richard is a piece of shit.

In the hospital, Maggie tells her mom that they should live in Richards’s house and stay in town. Everyone laughs and plans what flavor of ice cream they are going to eat. (Peg wants Chardonnay ice cream. Eyeroll.)

Side Note

Minority Report: Chip, Matt, Erica, Principal,

Eww, I hate Daro Film Distribution movies. They are always so low budget and try to tackle

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Overall rating

🔪 (1 Knife)

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷(5 glasses of wine required.)