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Gridlock'd (1997)

tomatometer

88

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

91

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

78

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 9,145

My Rating

Movie Info

In this hard-edged drama with a strong undercurrent of dark comedy, Stretch (Tim Roth) and Spoon (Tupac Shakur) are two friends who share both a passion for music and a dependence on heroin. Stretch and Spoon play in a jazz combo with Cookie (Thandie Newton), and after a New Year's Eve gig, they score drugs and get high together. Cookie lacks her friends' experience with hard drugs and soon ends up in the hospital after a severe overdose. Cookie's brush with death turns out to be a serious

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

Drama, Comedy

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Dec 10, 1997

Cast

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (4) | DVD (1)

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.

May 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

April 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A surprisingly light-hearted comedy about what happens when two self-imposed exiles from society decide to go straight and look to the system for a little help.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gridlock'd is refreshing because it's different. The subject matter isn't new, but the approach and tone are.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A dark, effective satire about drug addiction that offers laughs as well as savage criticism of the US approach to dealing with users.

May 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

While not entirely successful, there's enough humor and humanism amid gritty urban locations to recommend Gridlock'd.

May 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comment
Reeling Reviews

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.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

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.

June 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

An ambitious, too ambitious, effort by Curtis Hall that shows talent and a future behind the camera.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comment
Reeling Reviews

A very underrated film that is also very truthful

September 1, 2003 Comment
Aisle Seat

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.

October 17, 2002 Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | Comment
Cincinnati Enquirer

Exposes the obstacles that that two down-and-out men face in their efforts to turn their lives around.

August 28, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

In Gridlock'd, an oddly effective combination of gritty drama and social satire, Shakur and his co-star Tim Roth take sketchy characters and make them exciting to watch through the pure energy of their talent and chemistry.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Gridlock'd

I love this movie, its extremely entertainly.Its a laugh a minute and you can just fall in love with all the characters!Tupak and Roth are fantastic and have great chemistry and Newton is also brilliant.Its a highly enjoyable and funny movie that is a must to watch!

April 14, 2009
FiLmCrAzY
Film Crazy

Super Reviewer

an excellent film about friendship and the abuses of heroin. tupac puts forth probably the one truly noteworthy performance of his acting career and tim roth is brilliant as always. underrated in that this film has been so largely ignored over the years, definitely worth a watch.

January 25, 2010
sanjurosamurai
danny d

Super Reviewer

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