Customer Reviews

Gridlock'd (Widescreen)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With a decent plot and very little in the way of action, it is amazing that this film works so effectively. Basically a day-in-the-life tale following the misfortunes of two drug addicts, Spoon (Tim Roth) and Stretch (Tupac Shakur) as they desperately try to kick heroin habits and avoid the unfortunate attention of a local gangster.

The dialogue is quick and funny, and the two leads are very impressive. Shakur is a true revelation and Roth does his usual swaggy/cool style even with his character's boundaries. The film tries to be moral at times, but due to the comedy - just isn't. With a great soundtrack and a live performance at the end from the rapper himself, Gridlock'd succeeds magnificently.

Tupac & Tim Roth plays very convincing as 2 drug-addicts trying to kick the habit.

Vondie Curtis Hall really should make more movies, couse all fits like a glove: the acting, camera-work, the editing, the score all are supreme.

The story is really good, and even people who aren't fans of Tupac can't deny that his acting isn't great, becouse it is.

I'll ADVICE EVERY MOVIE FAN TO WATCH THIS ONE

This was 2Pac's last acting role before his violent death. Overall this movie is a great action film and I recommend it to everyone.
Peace.
R.I.P. Tupac Shakur
Best rapper ever!

This is Pac's best performance I've seene in all has acting days. And it's a positive film, cuz 2 men are tryin 2 go 2 rehab 2 git off drugs for the're new years resolution. And it's pretty funny along the way as well at a couple of points. We'll, I ain't gon spoil it 4 anyonw who havn't seene it yet, but this movie goz 2 show life is a traffic jam.

Tupac(R.I.P.) u the greatest.

There's definitely an abundant amount of film buffs who watch this movie and simply look at it as a poor cousin of 'Trainspotting' and that is really a shame, because this is a great piece of work that truly stands on its own. For one thing, I think the comparison to 'Trainspotting' is slightly unfair, because while the two films are dealing with similar subject matters, they approach it in completely different manners, and, while I enjoy both movies, I prefer 'Gridlock'd' hands-down. The performances are all outstanding, particularly the late Tupac Shakur (who happens to be my favorite rapper, but that's neither here nor there). This is a lost little gem of a film that, after five years, has sadly STILL yet to find its audience.

The movie plays like a black comedy. It centers around two heroin addicts, Spoon, played by Shakur, and Stretch, played by Tim Roth. Both of them are burgeoning musicians who have a jazz trio with their other friend Cookie, played by Thandie Newton. These three share an apartment together somewhere in the broken-down inner-city and spend most of their time playing nightclubs, and shuffling around town, partying. However, one fateful New Year's Eve, after playing a gig Cookie overdoses, and Spoon and Stretch desperately rush her to a hospital. While she lies in a coma, and on life support, Spoon decides that its time for he and Stretch to kick their drug habit. Thus begins a very LONG day in which the two try everything in their power to find a rehab program for themselves. But in a cruel and unfeeling bureacracy, it seems like all the cards are against them. They circle endlessly through a series of social-welfare agencies that almost seem to be deliberately plotting to keep them away from help: They find they can't get medicards without being on welfare, can't get into detox without filling out forms and waiting 10 days, can't get into a rehab center because it's only for alcoholics, can't get the right forms because an office has moved, can't turn in the forms because an office is about to close. And if that wasn't enough to drive them crazy, they've also been mistaken for the murderers in a drug-related double homicide, putting their faces on the 6 o'clock news as fugitives on the run. So with local cops closely on their tail, as well as the real killers after them to reclaim 3 ounces of heroin that the two stole from the crime scene, Stretch and Spoon are finding it harder and harder to get clean.

The two leads, Shakur and Roth, are the heart of the movie. Their chemistry together is terrific, and their closer-than-two-brothers act is incredibly convincing. Their dialogue together, whether they're cool and relaxed, or frustrated and angry, or filled with remorse and regret over how they've lived their lives up until then, is always interesting. They are real people caught up in the absurdity and unfairness of life, which adds something I feel 'Trainspotting' sometimes lacked: humanity and compassion. Writer-director Vondie-Curtis Hall wrote the screenplay and makes his directorial debut here. He does a fine job, and seems to have a good handle on keeping the audience involved, without shutting them out by being overly-cynical in his depiction of streetlife and drug addicts.

I'd highly reccommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen it. If you are turned off by the grim-sounding material, believe me, you will be surprised at how human and fun it is. There are several scenes in this movie that are absolutely hilarious, in which the resentful social workers blow up at the two from across the counter. An ER nurse lets loose all her frustration and anger at Spoon while making him fill out forms before they can admit Cookie into the hospital, and, in probably my favorite scene, a desk clerk at the department of welfare completely snaps: "Yeah, we all been waiting for the day you come through that door and tell us you're ready not to be a drug addict. After five, ten years, you decide this is the day, and the whole f---in' world is supposed to stop!?" Life is hard, the film tells us, and getting through it with all your marbles is the hardest part. Abstract as it is, I think this movie gets the message across perfectly.

in most of pacs movies hes just one of the great actors in the movie. he never really had to carry a movie, until gridlock'd. he is one of the main two characters. i think he gives his most memorable performance in this movie. the movie is kinda sad if u look at it, about to heroin actics tryin to kick. its a dope fiends "friday" the storyline isnt very compelling. its just a feel good about fellin bad movie. tim roth also gives a very good performance. i cant say enough about this movie. for some reason this s** was very funny. there is alot of humor and fun things about this movie. get this to see pac bein a real down to earth touchable person.

Imagine 'While You Were Sleeping' set in a milieu of junkies, gangstas and cops. While their friend Cookie lies in emergency after a New Year's Eve overdose, musicians Spoon and Stretch decide to finally kick their habit. However, they quickly get lost in a Kafkaesque urban labyrinth of bureaucracy, its servants blocking their good intentions with rules, paperwork and (admittedly justified) resentment; they also get caught in the fire of gang warfare, as two lethally relentless hitmen (one dubbed portentously 'the Reaper') try to retrieve 3 oz of heroine the scallies found on a murdered friend.

The air of unreality produced by cramming a fantastic amount of life-changing and -threatening incident into one (holi)day is underlined by the generally comic tone, in which events seem more frustrating than genuinely dangerous. The situation of two wannabe-streetwise petty criminals forced to deal with the inanities of the welfare service is in itself funny. But the possibility of their friend dying is an urgent one, as is their desire to change, reinforced by the flashbacks revealing a trio of musicians on the brink of a big time they are now close to throwing away (it is important, however, to note the idealising function of these flashbacks, a kind of lost golden age against which the nightmare present is compared). The rapport between Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth is genuinely charming, not because they're super-funny or hyper-articulate like Tarantino characters, but because they're ordinary, likable blokes like most of us, down on their luck, with a poignant gap between their dreams and debilities, and an admirable, unexpected resourcefulness.

Comedy is one thing, though; it seems a bit of a cheat when the climax dissipates into cartoon, undoing the goodwill that helped the viewer overlook the lacklustre script and sometimes irritating visual tics.

And very original too. [...] This is not only thoroughly entertaining throughout but also hilariously funny in parts, tupac & tim roth are superb. Nuff said.

Go & watch trainspotting if you want an over-rated over-hyped over-appreciated movie, but stick with gridlock'd if you want a genuinely funny 2 hrs of entertainment.

Great, funny must see! If not more then once, at least once to laugh your a$$ off.

When serious film buffs talk about Gridlock'd, they can't help but compare it to the supposedly better Trainspotting. Well, I've seen both films and I prefer Gridlock'd. And although I'm bias when it comes to Tupac (my favorite rapper), this lost little gem of a film truly stands on its own.

The movie is about two heroin addicts, Stretch (Tim Roth) and Spoon (Shakur) who are desperately trying to kick their drug habit after their fellow musician friend Cookie (Thandie Newton) OD's on New Years Eve. Thus begins their hilarious harrowing journey through an uncaring beaurocracy, including a rude hospital worker, a desk clerk with a short temper... and the list goes on and on. Not only that, but Stretch and Spoon have to get into a detox center before they're captured by the police who think they've committed a drug-related double homicide, when in actuality, the real murderer is a drug dealer (Vondie Curtis Hall) who is trying to kill them both for stealing his dope. WHEW!

Shakur and Roth have outstanding chemistry together in this film. Both turn in terrific performances and deliver occasionally hilarious one-liners. Gridlock'd is Vondie Curtis Hall's directorial debut, so props to him. He did a very fine job. He also wrote the screenplay.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend it. If you read the summary on the back of the cassette/DVD case and thought it sounded stupid, believe me. It's really a great movie. If for nothing else, rent the film for Tim Roth's encounter with the desk clerk. It has to be one of the funniest moments in film history.