Myra Styles Teri Thompson Grey Joe Estevez Gina Taylor Tonya Harding Dan Tony Noakes Carter Chris DeRose Rick Rick Beatty
With: Michael Garganese
It’s a shame Tonya Harding had to give up her day job, as there’s little to recommend her bigscreen debut in “Breakaway,” a by-the-numbers vid actioner that hardly spins on her presence. Couch potatoes lured by her name will be asking for their money back when they find the former skating champ is in only a handful of scenes.
True topliner is Teri Thompson as Myra, a drop-woman for the mob who decides to get out after seven years and take 300 grand with her. Traveling with an ordinary joe (Tony Noakes), she’s pursued by an unstoppable hit man (Joe Estevez) and later betrayed by her b.f. (Chris DeRose), who hides the money in the apartment of Gina (Harding), a waitress he’s also dating.
The wooden Harding, whose character looks like it was spliced into the pic at a late stage, puts in only a couple of appearances in the first hour. When she finally starts twirling, action fans are likely to throw beer cans at the screen: Most of her few fights consist of the men standing there and having the bejeezus beaten out of them.
The sexy Thompson (“Married People, Single Sex”) is a far gutsier heroine, and makes the most of the script’s straining for occasional wit between the action. Other players are OK, production values reasonable for the genre.
