Vondie Curtis-Hall's directorial debut is a clever, stylish thriller that slowly transforms itself into a dark comedy. Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth star as two performance-artist types who make a new year's resolution to kick the smack habit that's just thrown their lead singer (Thandie Newman) into a precipitous coma. On the way to the rehab center, the usual sorts of bad shit get triggered, and our heroes find themselves chased through alleys by suspicious cops and pissed-off drug dealers alike. But the bad guys are nothing compared to the vindictive clerks and pencil-pushers who keep standing in the way of assistance: It's the constant chase through the maze of bureaucracy that ultimately proves the most perilous. Curtis-Hall and his cast strike all the right balances between humor and suspense, logic and paranoia, lively frivolity and deadly doom.