Run the Tide stars hunky Twilight alum Taylor Lautner as Rey Hightower, a young man forced to grow up way too quick. His drug addict mother (Constance Zimmer) has been in jail for years and Rey stepped up to raise his younger brother Oliver, played by scene-stealing newcomer Nico Christou. She was a horrid mother even when she wasn’t in jail and Rey sure could’ve used Al Anon and lots of therapy. He’s seething with resentments and justifiable self-righteous anger.

His mother’s boyfriend (Kenny Johnson) cares for the kids and plays a kinda-sorta father figure. But Rey and Oliver are really on their own. The drama that sets everything off is their mom being released from prison. Mom wants to come back to parent Oliver but Rey isn’t having it. He raised the boy and feels uber protective of him. It’s an easy to love character.

Rey lost all trust in his mother’s parenting abilities years ago. He had a high drama, Lifetime-channel worthy childhood. So we get to watch Lautner’s luscious lips, sad/mad eyes, and dark eyebrows while he kidnaps Oliver and they take off together on a road trip.

This is a mostly predictable story with lots of cliches but it is sweet and the acting is good. It’ll be interesting to see where Christou’s career goes. He’s a very talented kid.

The best audience for Run the Tide will be swooney teenagers who will drool at Taylor Lautner as he plays the brooding brother with a cliche-alert “heart of gold.” And, whoa! When Lautner takes his shirt off, they’ll gasp with delight at how ripped he is. (I did).

Johanna Braddy plays Rey’s ex-girlfriend. Written by Rajiv Shah and directed by Soham Mehta.

Run the Tide is now playing in select theaters and available On Demand/Digital HD. Drama. Rated PG-13. 94 min.

Watch the trailer:

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