Gridlock'd Movie Review 1996

Junkies and sometime-musicians Spoon (Shakur) and Stretch (Roth) decide to kick the habit after their singer Cookie (Newton) overdoses and slips into a coma. The hapless pair are thrown into the switches of social services programs and government offices where they shuffle endlessly but nothing happens. Think "Waiting for Godot" meets "Waiting for the Man." Meanwhile, their dealer is murdered and they're the prime suspects, pursued by the cops and the actual killers, who believe that they've stolen said dealer's stash. Shakur shows flashes of the brilliance that might have been as the more sensitive and sane of the pair, while Roth complements him perfectly as his bug-crazy short-sighted partner. Fellow actor Curtis-Hall's directorial debut.

Distribution

USA Home Entertainment, 1 W. Forest, Englewood, NJ 07631-4004, Phone: (201)871-1000, URL: http://www.polygram-us.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 91 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Rehab, Buddies, Black Comedy, Disorganized Crime, Drug Use & Abuse, Fugitives, Detroit, Lovable Loonies, Hard Knock Life, Struggling Musicians, Peculiar Partners, New Year's Eve

Screenplay

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Cast

Tim Roth, Tupac Shakur, Thandie Newton, Charles Fleischer, Howard Hesseman, James Pickens, John Sayles, Tom Towles, Eric Payne

Cinematography

Bill Pope

Director

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Music

Stewart Copeland

Other

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Producer

Paul Webster, Erica Huggins, Damian Jones, Ted Field, Russell Simmons, Scott Kroopf, Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Interscope Comm., Gramercy Pictures