Gimme the Loot (DQ)

Stars: Ty Hickson, Tashiana Washington

Director: Adam Leon

Urban graffiti artists Malcolm and Sofia (Hickson, Washington), cheesed off by their work being 'buffed' (scrawled over) by a rival crew, determine to tag a New York sporting landmark - but they need 500 dollars to bring it all off.

Well, they don't achieve either ambition, in a film that seems to just stutter to a halt about two-thirds of the way through its plot; that, and the runtime (78 minutes) would suggest that the film's makers, like their characters perhaps, simply couldn't raise enough money to finish the job.

In an unlikely sequence of events, every time the luckless pair seems to be getting somewhere, they lose what they've gained: a bicycle, a mobile, sneakers and so on. Sofia even manages to get 140 dollars from a friend, only to be set on and robbed by a trio of white youths before she has even left the premises.

Street-level dialogue becomes monotonous in its rapidity and repetition, although the acting, most of which seems improvised, is just about passable, and a few mild chuckles are raised here and there, saving a film that seems to have little appeal for UK audiences from getting a total zero rating. Poor colour processing seems to cloak everything in a pale grey filter.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Soda Pictures. Colour (unspecified).
78 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 3.

Review date: 01 May 2013