New Jersey Drive (1995) review

Instead of going to high school and attempting to get an education (who wants that, anyway?), Jason (Sharron Corley) and his best friend Kyle (Gabriel Casseus) skip class to wander the streets of Newark stealing automobiles and, naturally, getting into serious trouble with the (almost entirely Caucasian) police department.  Gomez concentrates his energy on trying to nail the authenticity aspect with the dialogue and "natural acting" (you know what I'm sayin'?) and significantly less so on the story, in which the cops are racist and not-so-conveniently around every corner ... and yet, as much as I hold the authorities in contempt, you can't have a bunch of sociopathic teenagers zooming through your city recklessly, endangering the lives of innocent bystanders or shooting at each other.  It doesn't really "stand out" in the gang genre and I think the soundtrack - which I made a tape copy of back in the 90's - holds up better than the movie itself.  Following this, Gomez has gone on to mostly work in television, and has directed episodes of some stand-out shows like The Sopranos, Dexter, The Shield, Oz, etc.