Full Speed

Competent but only passably interesting, this first-time feature from actor turned director Gael Morel tells the story of four young outcasts who are bound together after one of them writes a novel based on their lives. Quentin (Pascal Cervo) is an up and coming writer who causes a minor sensation when he publishes "Through the Night," a roman a clef about his friends, a loose-knit group of young, alienated French suburbanites. Chief among them are his girlfriend Julie (Elodie Bouchez), a wealthy student who lives for speed and breaking the rules; his best friend Jimmy (Stephane Rideau), a high-school dropout who loves French hip-hop and dreams of becoming a DJ; an...