Blindspotting

First-timer Carlos Lopez Estrada directs this energetic but wildly uneven film from a script by longtime friends and Oakland natives Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. Casal and Diggs also star as longtime friends and Oakland natives Collin and Miles, the former a white, motormouthed hothead, the latter an African-American ex-felon entering the final days of his probation. Collin’s situation complicates when he witnesses a police officer shoot a fleeing black man in the back, but despite the powerful relevance of the premise, Blindspotting rarely pauses the wacky hijinks, overwrought dream sequences and toothless jabs at Oakland hipsters long enough to allow the protagonist to reflect on the racially-motivated murder that he and no one else witnessed. The film has passion and energy to burn, and Diggs seems like a star in the making (Casal, not so much), but scenes like the one where Collin improvises The Battle Rap that Fixes Everything for Some Reason feel more contrived than cathartic.