Jim Kouf, the writer-director, is usually associated with fairly trivial crime escapades. Here he stops joking; and Belushi and Shakur tread the mean streets of their unnamed city with grim panache.

Though full of good lines, this mazy, cynical thriller from writer-director Jim Kouf finds its wit constantly rolling out of view like an errant coin.

"Gang Related" has a little trouble with its resolution, but overall escalation is terrific in this darkly comedic thriller, with Kouf clearly having fun arranging difficulties and inventing mistakes for his characters.

The film's essential problem is that the duo are unsympathetic, uninteresting and unintelligent, resulting in a rare case of an audience eager for the main characters to get their comeuppance.