This movie was just a lot of fun, no matter how you try and break it down. I saw it because of Tim Roth, and I'm glad I did; Tupac Shakur was just as enjoyable to watch, along with smaller roles from the now much-more-famous Thandie Newton and Lucy Liu.

In retrospect, the character development isn't anything incredibly deep, but it still has incredibly funny and dramatic moments despite this. It plays like a stageplay on a skateboard, bouncing from place to place, the journey more important than the destination.

Maybe that sounds a little silly, but it's still a lot of fun to watch and a lot of fun to go on a ride with these characters. Definitely a great kick, as we patiently wait for another film from mostly-actor Vondie-Curtis Hall.

Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall, who I've seen in Broken Arrow, debuts as writer and director with this drug based film, the last to star rapper Tupac Shakur before his death from shooting, during post-production. Basically, in Detroit, Barbara 'Cookie' Cook (Thandie Newton) has overdosed on her first time using heroin, and her best friends and band mates Ezekiel 'Spoon' Whitmore (Shakur) and Alexander 'Stretch' Rawland (Tim Roth) decide to kick their habit. To do this they want to enrol on a detox program, but this is becoming very difficult as they sent from place to place. The big problem is that Spoon and Stretch are being searched for by the police after it looks like they are suspects to a murder. Also the drug fuelled men who really committed the murder, gangster D-Reper (Curtis-Hall) and his Henchman (Tom Towles) are after them as well. In the end, Cookie wakes up from her drug-induced coma and walks out of the same hospital where it looks like Spoon and Stretch are finally going to get what they want. Also starring Who Framed Roger Rabbit's Charles Fleischer as Mr. Woodson, Howard Hesseman as Blind Man, James Pickens Jr. as Supervisor, John Sayles as Cop #1 and Eric Payne as Cop #2. Shakur and Roth make a really good double act, Newton has her moments in the flashback sequences, and it is a darkly funny take on inner city life and some drug use, a good black comedy. Worth watching!

After their brash jazz singer pal Cookie (the adorable Thandie Newton) winds up hospitalized from overdosing on bad smack, mellow, sensible, long-suffering bass player heroin addict Spoon (a wonderfully laid-back and affable Tupac Shakur) and his wild, irrational, unpredictable keyboardist fellow dope fiend best friend Stretch (a marvelously manic Tim Roth) decide to go into rehab in order to kick their habits. This seemingly simple task proves to be easier said than done when the hapless pair run afoul of both angry drug dealers and a lumbering bureaucracy that's rife with red tape, apathy and incompetence.

Writer/director Vondie Curtis Hall expertly mines a savagely funny line in raw, caustic and profane pitch-black humor while delivering a scathing indictment of the indifference and ineptitude of the social welfare system. Moreover, this film has a great rough, gritty edge to it that positively surges with a furiously hopped-up crackling vitality. Best of all, the amazingly springy'n'zingy electric and natural chemistry between the utterly engaging well-matched leads is a constant joy to watch, reaching a hilariously brutal zenith towards the end when Shukar persuades Roth to repeatedly stab him in the stomach so they can both finally get some much-needed medical treatment. Roth and Shakur shine in their roles, plus there's terrific supporting turns by Newton, Hall as a lethal drug dealer, Tom Towles as Hall's equally deadly partner, Howard Hesseman as a weary blind Vietnam veteran with a seeing eye dog named Nixon, Charles Fleischer as a helpful social worker, Elizabeth Pena as a snippy hospital admissions person, Bokeem Woodbine as a volatile junkie, Lucy Liu as a cokehead, and John Sayles as a jerky cop. The movie's refreshingly candid and honest depiction of interracial relationships qualifies as another significant asset; the scene where Shakur chastises Roth for his overly liberal use of a certain harsh racial epithet in particular is a small gem. Bill Pope's slick, accomplished cinematography and Stewart Copeland's funky, syncopated score are likewise on the money excellent. A real treat.