'Running Scared'

Paul Walker plays Joey Gazelle, a mob associate in New Jersey who stashes evidence in his basement. His young son Nicky is good friends with the neighbor boy Oleg, whose stepfather is a nutcase Russian crystal meth addict with a giant John Wayne tattoo on his back (and he's downright subtle compared to some of the characters we meet later). One day, when the boys are playing, Oleg sees the evidence stashed in Joey's house, takes a distinctive gun home with him, and shoots his stepfather, before running away into the night. Problem is, that particular gun was used in the murder of a crooked police officer, and now mobsters, cops, and other nutjob Russians are all trying to find it. Thus begins a long night for Joey, who has to find and get rid of the gun before anyone can prove it exists. Writer-director Wayne Kramer (The Cooler) is about as skilled at storytelling as Walker is at acting, which is to say not very.