Fox Tuesday Night Movie the Price of Love

 ((Tues. (28), 8-10 p.m., Fox))

By ANNE BERGMAN

Filmed in Los Angeles by Gerber Co. in association with Polygram Filmed Entertainment. Exec producer, David Gerber; producer/unit production manager, Guy Louthan; director, David Burton Morris; writer, Ronald Parker; camera, John Demps; editor, Corky Ehlers; production designer, Stuart Blatt; sound, Ken Ross; set decorator, Amy Ancona. #Cast: Peter Facinelli, Jay R. Ferguson, Laurel Holloman, Steven Martini, Alexis Cruz, John Posey, Ben Gould, Harvey Silver. Fox is launching what the weblet hopes is an ongoing series of films depicting controversial aspects of American society. First up is "The Price of Love," about runaway teenage boys who survive the streets by panhandling and prostitution -- a subject handled deftly by writer Ronald Parker, director David Burton Morris ("Patti Rocks") and, most of all, by the young cast, giving sensitive performances. Pic tells the story of 16-year-old Bret (Peter Facinelli), whose insurmountable troubles at home with a violent stepmother and ineffectual father propel him out the "Silver Strand" review, page 12 door and toward refuge withhis grandmother, who, he later discovers, is too infirm to take him in.
 

On the road again, Bret hitchhikes to Los Angeles, and on the way meets Roxann (Laurel Holloman), a fellow runaway who introduces the naive Bret (he thinks celebs are buried underneath their stars along the Walk of Fame) to a pack of kids living on the streets of Hollywood.

Determined to get a job, Bret finds himself foiled by a system that requires parental permission even to work at McDonald's, and is subsequently forced to rely on panhandling for food money.

After the police raid the young runaways' lair, pushing them back into homelessness, Bret makes a collect call home that's rejected by his stepmother, and his downward spiral is virtually set in stone.

Thankfully, just when the vidpic seems on the verge of lapsing into cliche, Bret meets a group of gay hustlers who offer him food and shelter.

While it's inevitable that Bret will be drawn into their world, pic holds interest by detailing the degrees -- level by level -- to which he is sinking: from total repulsion at the notion of peddling sex to the old men in their black BMWs, to the realization that his body is his only asset.

It finally comes to the point where Bret -- who should be running track on his high school team -- is dashing from cops determined to nab him for hustling or gay bashers determined to crush him. His misadventures land him in a group home, where he reunites with Roxann and begins a romance with her.

Pic is dotted with compelling characters, specifically Beau (Jay R. Ferguson of "Evening Shade"), a sophisticated young hustler, who while allowing Bret to room with him, no strings attached, develops a palpable longing for the runaway, which he never acts upon.

Holloman -- fresh off her role as the rambunctious teenage lesbian in feature "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love"-- weaves a perf that, while tinged with vulnerability, captures her character's innate sense of self-preservation. Facinelli brings an Everykid element to his performance.

Shot on the streets of Hollywood, pic has gritty quality suitable for the subject.

And while the result could have been maudlin or preachy, the director, writer and producers redeem the vidpic by illustrating with delicate strokes rather than broad ones.