OFF THE HOOK

Rappers in the ‘hood redux.

Running time: 103 minutes. Not rated (violence, profanity, sex). At the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, Avenue A and Third Street.

‘OFF the Hook,” an amateurish indie with a few fleeting moments of power, is “based on a true story” but brings little new to the familiar tale of aspiring rappers in the South Bronx.

Walter (Walter Velasquez playing himself) and Lorenzo (Jamal Mackey) are about to cut their first album. Walter attends college and works as a school sports coach; Lorenzo goes to jail for dealing drugs.

The tensions between the longtime pals grow when Walter’s sister Narine (Lvee Anduze) gets pregnant with Lorenzo’s child and the two move in together. She pressures Lorenzo to spend less time in the studio, but Walter is determined not to bail out on Lorenzo.

“Off the Hook” is overlong and not well-acted, but credit writer-producer-director Adam Watstein with finishing it at all.

The actor originally cast as Lorenzo wound up in jail on the first day of shooting, and Mackey stepped into the breach at the last minute.