Dear reader,
for the end of a year or a
beginning of a year a movie like “Gridlock'd” from the year 1997
seems quite fitting. The movie is about two musicians, Spoon (Tupac
Shakur) and Stretch (Tim Roth), who at New Year's Eve decide to quit
taking drugs. The idea comes when the third member of the group,
Cookie (Thandie Newton), has to be brought to a hospital after an
overdose. They decide that life can't go on like that anymore. So off
they go.
But the drug withdrawal
turns out turns out more difficult than the two expected. They are
sent from office to office and have to fill out different forms and
meet requirements. Meanwhile they're also chased by gangsters and
eventually the police is after them as well.
Howard Hesseman only plays
a rather small supporting role as a blind man. However that man is
repeatedly there in critical moments and able to help Spoon and
Stretch. That's why there's even a topic on imdb.com in the forum for
this movie, where people discuss what role Howard Hesseman has. At
the very least he seems to be a sort of guardian angel for the two.
Overall Gridlock'd is a
nice, entertaining comedy for me. Especially Tim Roth and Tupac
Shakur seemed to have good chemestry between them. I don't know how
realistic the movie is in regards to drug withdrawal and the many
problems the two in the movie have to overcome. But it's no secret
that the American healthcare system is very bad. I think, regardless
of truthfulness of the movie, this fact does come across in this
movie. Contrary to movies like “John Q.”, where the drama of the
American healthcare system is shown, here it's used for entertaining
comedy.
Gridlock'd is one of the
last movies with Tupac Shakur. I can only agree with the opinion of
others on the internet, that with his early death, the world has lost
a talented actor.
Until next blog,
sarah
