New Jersey Drive (1995)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Load of rubbish!!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

In this 1995 film, writer/director Nick Gomez brings to the screen a wonderful film that captures the essence of inner city life and crime in Newark, New Jersey. Car theft and joyriding is a thrilling experience for many teens as they courageously face the mean streets while trying to survive and overcome many obstacles. The story begins by introducing us to Jason Petty, a tough yet decent teen who, like many of his friends, gets his kicks out of stealing cars and having fun. As he tells the story from his point of view, Jason exposes us to how he and most of his friends deal with the unfortunate, every day occurrences in their neighborhood. From gun violence to police corruption to juvenile detention and the death of close friends, there is nothing positive for these kids to look forward to. The acting is incredibly believable if not downright brilliant. Since the film is set in the New Jersey ghetto, the urban vernacular and the overall dialogue is truly fantastic. The cast includes Sharron Corley, Gabriel Casseus, Donald Faison of "Scrubs" and a cameo appearance of the late hip hop artist Heavy D.333

I lived in that area (Hoboken and Jersey City)for about ten years. This film certainly captures the feel of that time and place. The dialogue is very good, the music is right and scenarios realistic. As another poster said, it looks almost like a documentary.I like the way it humanizes these kids, who probably would have rather have been born in Westchester, but fall into what kids fall into. It just so happens that area is pretty rough.They over-demonize the cops quite a bit, but that's to be expected. I'd say the acting is good all-around, too.It gives the viewer some sense of how this idiocy is caused and gets blown out-of-proportion. Hopefully, the new mayor of Newark is making progress.

New Jersey Drive is a very underrated movie to put it quite bluntly. As it's supposed to in urban movies, the street atmosphere was definitely there. The script was good because it showed a crrosroad as Jason's crew and the cops lives crossed paths, I don't wanna give this away though. Sharron Corley gives a good performance as the humble but tough Jason, as does Gabriel Casseus as the knucklehead Midget and Don Faison as Tiny Dime, etc., etc. It was also wonderfully directed by Nick Gomez and also stars Heavy D and Michele Morgan.authentic street movie 10/10

I just wanted to inform anyone who may be interested that the the movie "New Jersey Drive" was my personal favorite off alltime. I admire the work Nick Gomez and Spike Lee put into this masterpiece of a movie. This movie made quite an impression on me because of its realness and its appreciation of detail of life in urban New Jersey. It struck a chord with me, personally, because I grew up with friends like those depicted in the movie. It further made an impression with me because I used to spend time in Teaneck several years ago, so some of the characters were kept "real". At times, this movie seemed like a documentary because you didn't know whether or not these were real events taking place. Although movies like "Boys in the Hood" and "Menace II Society" grab more attention, I personally feel these movies were somewhat "enhanced" to appeal to a broader audience. "New Jersey Drive" was an uncompromising piece of "in your face" reality. Lee and Gomez covered every detail in this urban drama from the music, clothing, slang, and location.Unlike some of the movies I mentioned earlier, the actors performed as if they weren't "actors". Nothing was compromised in order to make good "theater". The only misfortune to come from this movie was the fact that many people "slept" on it. I look forward to more works of art from Nick and Spike in the hopefully near future.