Jazz musicians, and heroin addicts: Spoon and Stretch decide to get clean after their friend and bandmate Cookie overdoses when she tries heroin for the first time. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.
30 September 1950, Detroit, Michigan, USA
9 March 1939, Chicago, Illinois, USA
28 September 1950, Schenectady, New York, USA
5 March 1968, Ventura, California, USA
6 November 1972, Westminster, London, England, UK
27 August 1950, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
2 December 1968, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
10 May 1969, Mansfield, Ohio, USA
23 September 1959, Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
15 December 1955, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
16 June 1971, East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
11 December 1961, Chicago, Illinois, USA
9 January 1962, Buffalo, New York, USA
27 February 1940, Lebanon, Oregon, USA
12 April 1968, New York City, New York, USA
24 February 1961, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
21 August 1963, New York City, New York, USA
13 April 1973, New York City, New York, USA
29 November 1952, Englewood, New Jersey, USA
May 02, 2008
A dark, effective satire about drug addiction that offers laughs as well as savage criticism of the US approach to dealing with users.
June 18, 2002
The film seems so fresh it's almost possible to forget that it is a fraud in its description of the culture of hard drugs.
April 12, 2002
The movie's appeal lies largely in its capacity for surprise, riffing off tired characters and pooped genres to produce, intermittently at least, a fresh new tone. Call it junkie humour.
May 02, 2008
An engaging look at a mangy day in the lives of two junkies trying to kick, Gridlock'd would have been a good mid-level B.O. performer even without the interest surrounding it, due to the recent death of co-star Tupac Shakur.
February 14, 2001
Cast against type as the gentler of two musician junkies trying to burrow through the bureaucracy to enter a rehab clinic in Detroit, Shakur has the relaxed screen presence of a young Wesley Snipes and plays perfectly off the delirious Tim Roth.
September 01, 2003
A very underrated film that is also very truthful
October 17, 2002
Written and directed by actor Vondie Curtis Hall, the film blends savvy and sour-mash humor with bone-deep sadness that recalls predecessors as varied as After Hours and Trainspotting.
June 05, 2005
The late Shakur is especially impressive as the brighter of the duo -- a frazzled but infinitely patient character with a touching faith that somehow, if the pair just keeps plugging away, everything will turn out okay.
May 02, 2008
While not entirely successful, there's enough humor and humanism amid gritty urban locations to recommend Gridlock'd.
February 09, 2006
The film has a fairly uninteresting narrative motor in its thriller subplot, but hits on an edgy black comic tone for Stretch and Spoon's increasingly pained dealings with the unsympathetic representatives of authority.
January 01, 2000
This is grim material, but surprisingly entertaining, and it is more cause to mourn the recent death of Shakur, who gives his best performance as Spoon, a musician who wants to get off drugs.
