Find Ray T

Damon Payne is a rising young actor who plays a guy named Ray Tarkovsky in a new movie -- the “true-to-life” story about the man who put Vladimir Petrov, a Russian mob boss, in prison then vanished into witness protection. Damon mentions on TV that he met with Ray to research the role, Petrov learns about it, and two days later his men are ordering Damon to lead them to the snitching bastard. If he doesn’t, they’ll kill everybody he knows.

Problem is, all Damon really did was send Ray a DVD of the movie, via the guy’s publisher, and was told of how the man reacted. But hey -- Damon’s a people who knows people who know people, so how hard can it be to find a Russian needle hiding God knows where in this whole wide world of a haystack? Try the word impossible, because it turns out the people who those people know don’t know squat or are flat out lying. So no matter what he tries, he comes up zeroes. Even a surreptitious visit by the FBI with a word of warning provides him with no clue.

Finally, Damon sends Ray a gift by way of that publisher and follows that in a chase through rush-hour Manhattan, where he winds up doing free-running while riding a motorcycle along sidewalks and around attitudinal bike messengers. Still, he manages to track down Ray’s hiding place. His intent? To warn Ray about what Petrov is trying. Of course, that’s when Damon learns the FBI used him as a decoy for an elaborate plan to crush Petrov’s mob.

Meaning, Damon gets caught in the middle of a gunfight and the gunmen escape. They kidnap Damon’s young son and give the actor forty-eight hours to bring Ray to them. Or else. Since even the FBI is now a danger to him, Damon is forced to play the role of his life in hopes of convincing the kidnappers that he can FIND RAY TARKOVSKY all over again.

Man, why doesn’t acting class prepare you for moments like this?