Tupac, in particular, stands out in this film, giving what is probably his best performance. They’re junkies, but they’re not all bad, and you find yourself rooting for them to make it. Throughout the film, as their lives continue on a downward spiral, despite their best intentions, we’re nevertheless able to see that, for all their faults, Spoon and Stretch are just a couple of guys who made some mistakes. And both Tupac and Roth are extremely convincing in their roles. Curtis-Hall (who also has a supporting role as a gangster) manages to capture the sheer hopelessness that addicts must feel as they try to get clean while facing a scornful public. Suffice to say, this film doesn’t have what I’d call a happy ending, but it still remains a gripping film. Things get even worse when they discover that their drug dealer is dead, and the police suspect that they may have something to do with it, while other gangsters also come after them because Stretch had taken the last of the dealer’s stash, and they want it back. They try to enroll in a government rehab program but face multiple roadblocks in the form of indifferent, and sometimes outright hostile, government workers and bureaucracy. But they quickly realize that this will not be as easy as they’d hoped This incident convinces Spoon that it’s time to kick his addiction, and he convinces Stretch to try to get clean with him.

Being broke, and unable to hail a cab, the two men carry Cookie all the way to the hospital themselves. Cookie is originally clean, but after trying heroin on Spoon and Stretch’s urging she overdoses, and they have to rush her to the hospital. Spoon and Stretch are both heroin addicts who also engage in other little petty crimes. He played bass in a spoken-word band called 8 Mile Road with his friends, a woman named “Cookie” (played by Thandie Newton), who did the vocals, and a man named “Stretch” (Tim Roth), who played piano. Written and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall, Tupac played a musician who went by the name of “Spoon” (no real name ever given). This is the first of three movies that Tupac filmed before he was killed, but that wasn’t released until after his death.

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