Amid the trend for Debbie Downer stories of teenage misery, director Adam Leon’s exuberant debut stands out like a conga line in a tax office.
Malcolm and Sofia (Ty Hickson and Tashiana Washington) are young graffiti writers in The Bronx whose latest effort is painted over by a rival group. To reassert their prowess, the two friends decide to “bomb the apple”— paint their tags on the home-run apple at Citi Field — which the kids insist on calling Shea Stadium. They need $500 to bribe a guard at the ballpark, and they sweat through two summer days trying various illegal schemes to get it.
The fact that the kids roll their eyes at the thought of calling the Mets’ home Citi Field is just one of the things that signal this movie’s bona fides. Leon cites the Coney Island classic “Little Fugitive” as an influence, and his version of New York rings nearly as true, from the grime in the bodegas to the four-letter vocabulary of the locals.
The young, novice actors are charming, but they haven’t completely mastered the art of natural-sounding dialogue, and rich-girl Ginnie’s (Zoë Lescaze) character is a bit thin. But Ginnie does figure in the best scenes, as Malcolm and Sofia conspire to burgle her apartment.
“Gimme the Loot” winds up as a shaggy-dog story built largely out of digressions, but the punch line is tender, as is Leon’s attitude toward being young and poor in New York.