New Jersey Drive

When it comes to helming gritty dramas about streetwise thieves, director Nick Gomez has been there (1992’s Laws of Gravity). Maybe he should move on. Here he takes a look at teen carjackers, and despite all the driving they do, Gomez fails to take us anywhere new. He touches on common motifs of the genre (lack of role models, squabbles that escalate into shoot outs) but provides no payoff. Even when you think a climax is near (when, say, a prison inmate warns one thief to watch his friend’s back), it never materializes. On the big screen, gripping performances by newcomer Corley and pulse-quickening chases redeemed New Jersey Drive, but the video version lowers the octane. Put the rent al fee toward the hip-hop sound track instead. C