''Gridlock'd'' is a 1997 American

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Vondie Curtis-Hall Vondie Curtis-Hall (born September 30, 1950) is an American actor, film director, and television director. As an actor, he is known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama '' Chicago Hope'' created by David E. Kelley and as ...

(in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

film), and starring

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

, Tim Roth,

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu (; born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, producer, and artist. Widely regarded as a trailblazer for Asian Americans in arts and entertainment, Asian American representation in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, she is t ...

, and

Thandiwe Newton Melanie Thandiwe Newton ( ; born 6 November 1972), formerly credited as Thandie Newton ( ), is a British actress. She has received various awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award, and a BAFTA Award, as well as nominations for two Golden Globe ...

. It follows two

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

addicts, who decide to kick the habit following the overdose of their bandmate. They confront the police and local criminals, while

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

prevents them from entering a

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. The general int ...

program. Curtis-Hall had a small role for the film. Shakur died four months before the film's release. The film's opening was relatively low, despite critical acclaim. Its opening weekend netted only $2,678,372 and it finished with a little over $5.5 million.

Plot

Spoon, Stretch, and Cookie, are a trio of heroin addicts, living in Detroit. They are in a band – in the

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

genre – called Eight Mile Road, with Cookie on lead vocals, Spoon on bass guitar, and Stretch on piano. Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their habit after Cookie overdoses on her first hit. Throughout a disastrous day, the two addicts dodge police and local criminals while struggling with an apathetic government bureaucracy that thwarts their entrance to a drug rehabilitation program.

Cast

In addition,

Bokeem Woodbine Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. In 1994, he portrayed Joshua, the main character's troubled brother, in ''Jason's Lyric''. He won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice T ...

appears repeatedlythough uncreditedas drug dealer Mud, while D Reper is played by the film's writer and director,

;

Kasi Lemmons Kasi Lemmons (; born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by ''The Caveman's Valentine'' (2001), ''Talk to Me (2007 film), ...

and Henry Hunter Hall, Curtis-Hall's wife and then-baby, respectively, appear briefly as the Madonna and Child.

Production

Development

Curtis-Hall drew from some of his own experiences growing up in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to make the film. During his teenage years, he was a guitarist and vocalist in Detroit's

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

scene. During this time, he and his peers began using

, with Curtis-Hall recounting the drug "was really a competitive thing we did, to be accepted. In order to compete, we thought, we figured we needed the tools to compete with others that were pushing the edge, to play faster, write better songs and sing better. That meant using smack". Curtis-Hall had kicked the drug by the time he graduated high school in 1974, saying, "One day my best friend, the bassist, and I were sitting around and decided that maybe we could actually play better if we weren't stoned all the time." In the attempt to get clean, Curtis-Hall said that he and his friend sought assistance from public detoxification programs, but were constantly confronted with

red tape Red tape is a concept employed to denounce excessive or redundant regulation and adherence to formal rules for creating unnecessary constraints on action and decision-making. The occurrence of red tape is usually associated with governments but a ...

. He said, "I was living at home and I didn’t want y parentsto know about it. Because of that I had no address to list on the forms. My friend didn't have a

Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

card. We were like these two homeless kids, running through this maze. You have a small window of time, or you’ll never kick."

Casting and financing

Curtis-Hall said it wasn't easy to get the film financed because of its taboo subject of

, "and people were expecting it to be a real depressing movie about a couple of dope fiends." He took the project to

Live Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and Home video, home video company. It was considered one of the largest Major film studio#Min ...

, PolyGram Films and Def Pictures, a subsidiary of PolyGram. At the time, PolyGram had just released '' Trainspotting'' and told Curtis-Hall, "'We can't do two movies about heroin'...Then Tupac's record company came up with the money and PolyGram turned around and said, 'Hey, we always liked this movie' aughs" Tim Roth requested to be in the film upon reading the script after the filming of '' Rob Roy''. Tupac was cast after

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

, the director's first choice, was not available. The rapper was recommended to Curtis-Hall by Preston Holmes, the president of Def Pictures. Said Curtis-Hall, "Pac had just gotten out of jail fter a 1995 sexual abuse conviction in New Yorkand no one wanted to touch him. But Preston, who had known Tupac since he was a child, said that he was a professional, and nothing like the perception Hollywood had of him. I met him, liked him, hooked him up with Tim, and there was immediate chemistry."

Soundtrack

Release

''Gridlock'd'' premiered on January 31, 1997, finishing at #10 at the box office in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

on the opening weekend, and went on to a total gross of $5.6million during the domestic run. The film was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on May 30, 1997.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' editor

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

praised Shakur's performance: "He played this part with an appealing mix of presence, confidence and humor". Desson Howe, for the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', wrote, "Shakur and Roth, who seem born for these roles, are allowed to take charge – and have fun doing it". ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' gave the film three out of four stars and felt that Hall had not "latched onto a particularly original notion of city blight. But he knows how to mine the humor in such desperation". Similarly,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

wrote in the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' that Roth and Shakur "illuminate" a "movie of despair and desperation" with "gritty, goofy comic spirit". He gave the film three out of four stars and said, "This is grim material, but surprisingly entertaining, and it is more cause to mourn the recent death of Shakur, who gives his best performance". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the film a "B" rating and

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

wrote, "''Gridlock'd'' doesn't have the imaginative vision of a movie like '' Trainspotting'', yet it's more literally true to the haphazard torpor of the junkie life than anything we've seen on screen since '' Drugstore Cowboy'' ... Curtis-Hall has caught the bottom-feeder enervation of heroin addiction."

References

External links

* {{Vondie Curtis-Hall 1997 films 1997 black comedy films 1990s buddy comedy films 1997 crime comedy films 1997 directorial debut films 1990s crime comedy-drama films 1997 independent films American black comedy films American buddy comedy films American crime comedy-drama films American independent films Films scored by Stewart Copeland Films scored by Amin Bhatia Films about heroin addiction Films directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall Films set in Detroit Films shot in Los Angeles Gramercy Pictures films 1990s hood films Interscope Communications films PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films Universal Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films about bureaucracy English-language crime comedy-drama films English-language black comedy films English-language independent films English-language buddy comedy films