Gridlock'd

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Gridlock'd ★★★ 1996 (R)

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. 91m/C VHS, DVD . Tim Roth, Tupac Shakur, Thandie Newton, Charles Fleischer, Howard Hesseman, James Pickens Jr., John Sayles, Tom Towles, Eric Payne; Cameos: Vondie Curtis-Hall; D: Vondie Curtis-Hall; W: Vondie Curtis-Hall; C: Bill Pope; M: Stewart Copeland.

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