Film review: Gimme the Loot (15)

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Washington Bureau Chief

A freewheeling energy carries this slender, ragtag indie just over the 80-minute line. A pair of teenage hustlers-cum-graffiti-taggers from the Bronx – smart, tough Sophia (Tashiana Washington) and sweet, goofy Malcolm (Ty Hickson) – plot to leave their stamp on an iconic landmark in the New York Mets' stadium.

They need $500 to pull it off, and over the course of a hot-as-hell weekend we watch them trying to raise it, a tricky business in an environment where you scam or get scammed.

The best scene involves Malcolm selling dope to a rich white girl (Zoë Lescaze) and staying to smooch in her bedroom.

The writer-director Adam Leon adopts a meandering, episodic structure that intrigues rather than compels, though the performances of the two young leads and the sense of a city on the make lend it a lo-fi charm.