THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504210065
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
TO LOCAL FOLKS, Newark, N.J., has been regarded as an airport-stop on the way to the Big Apple. But in ``New Jersey Drive,'' the latest in a repetitive series of inner-city gang movies, it's effectively identified as the auto-theft capital of the world.
If this movie is to be believed, young African-American males in Newark do nothing except steal cars and go for joy rides. Occasionally, they shoot each other or the police. More often, they are brutalized by the cops. The open warfare - the police are frustrated because most arrests result in parole, the youths by a lack of opportunity - is a stand-off. Nonetheless, this is a lot of frustration for an audience to take - with no suggestion of a solution.
Even though the inner-city genre is a relatively new film entry, it has already become cliched. This film lacks the tragic drama of ``Boyz N the Hood'' or the intelligence of ``Fresh.'' Instead, ``New Jersey Drive'' merely goes around in circles, getting nowhere. The boys are threatened by police sirens. They get away or are captured. The sequences are repeated.
In typically racist stance, the auto thieves are all African Americans and the malicious cops are white. Most disturbing is the fact that the producers (one of whom is Spike Lee) think that hate sells tickets. Since these films continue to get made, one has to presume they are right.
Even with a budget of just $6 million, there is no excuse for the horrendous soundtrack. The dialogue can barely be discerned. A low budget need not mean sloppy film making.
There is so little character development that it's difficult to get interested. If you drive to the theater, it's hard to feel sympathetic toward thieves who have no respect for other people's property. The police, led by the vicious Saul Stein, are pictured as being brutal in the extreme.
The script was reportedly inspired by a New York Times expose of a ``brutality'' investigation within the Newark Police Department.
Sharron Croley, who claims to have once been a thief in real life, plays Jason, the more ``sensitive'' member of the gang. Once again, the matriarch of the family is pictured as the only one who fights to keep her children off the streets. As always, no one listens.
This movie has been made often, and better, before. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``New Jersey Drive''
Cast: Sharron Corley, Saul Stein
Director: Nick Gomez
MPAA rating: R (violence, profanity)
Mal's rating: two stars
Locations: Janaf, Main Gate in Norfolk; Lynnhaven 8 in Virginia
Beach by CNB