Actually, though, this film isn't all that bad - much better than I expected it to be after knowing that I'd have to watch Melanie Griffith, as well as after the first half hour or so. After watching teen-aged Bobby (Vincent Kartheiser) get in a fight with an overzealous security guard for stealing quarters out of vending machines, and then watching Mel (James Woods) shoot him some heroin to heal his pain, I had pretty much figured there might be enough elements from "Kids" to make me, as the kids were saying five years ago, 'hurl.' (Director Gary Clark is responsible for that nightmare of a film, and Writer Christopher Landon was, fittingly enough, an intern at the company that produced "Kids." Go figure.)

Turns out that everybody's just subconsciously looking for a family - the abused teens Bobby and Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner) want parents they've never had, career-criminals Mel and Sid (Griffith) want kids they can't have. Yet throwing four drug addicts together never really turns out as peachy as one would hope. Mel becomes a neurotic jerk, Rosie has a miscarriage, they get hosed on what was supposed to be the score that would set them for life, and there's some gunplay and bloodshed to top it all off.

Woods is always watchable, even when playing a jerk. At least he's not a savage jerk. He's always got a fast wit and a natural style that works. However, Kartheiser seems to be a few smokes and some body hair away from being Eddie Furlong in "Terminator 2," with the added drawback in the fact that Linda Hamilton never shows up to kick any ass. Wagner is fittingly annoying, assuming that most addicts are annoying people to have around. Griffith, while not quite as bothersome as I usually find her, is also a bit irritating, especially when she decides to get into the car with Mel after freeing someone he's intent on murdering - even after he's been threatening her, too. Good job, toots.

Anyway, Clark one-ups "Kids" a bit by allowing the story to actually end on a slightly uplifting note, rather than the bleak, terrifying, sickening madness depicted in his first film. This means you can actually watch the film without vomiting in revulsion at human nature. A film without vomit is a step in the right direction.