Freeway (1996)

Good concept, poorly executed.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Freeway is one jolting movie experience, a 180 degree turn movie, where there's the fun in it. You might Reese Witherspoon was just another actress after seeing her in fear. Here she proves us dead wrong. I must admit I had an admiration for her electric and brave, really showing us what this actress is capable of. Freeway pretty much starts off as something serious, but it becomes a twisted sort of comedy, where you're guaranteed quit a few laughs, mainly by Witherspoon. But there's a dramatic and ugly side to the movie as well. Reese lives with her junkie whore mother (Plummer) and her stepfather (Michael T Weiss), the more impressive out of the two here. They're a dysfunctional family, and you can pretty much guess what the stepfather does, regarding the daughter, Reese, great eye candy. With only option, when facing another incarceration in a foster home, after her folks f..k up, she flees from her Social worker (a familiar face) and soon meets a nice guy stranger (Sutherland) who happens to be a notorious nutter who's disposing of young girl's bodies. Although it's a very addictive watch, what I got off Freeway, I think was a shortness of story, or more to the point, it really didn't know what kind of film it wanted to be. Nonetheless, twisted films are great fun, and actually if you look more at this as a comedy, you might be rewarded more. There's a couple of trashy, if really stupid moments, that will have you in unbelief, Sutherland's new contorted jaw, among many. He is great, showing another evil side to him, after his preceding performance in An Eye For An Eye. Watch him in close ups. He's hairy, scary. All performances are good, where some just happened to really impress me. But this films for many a taste, but I recommend you should see it, just once, for it twisted colony. Opening song and and animated sequence, I didn't expect, was cool.

So there's me thinking I'm taking a break from my obscure exploitation movies and I find myself sat before this beauty. Made in 1996, which doesn't seem so long ago, but it's before Keiffer Sutherland settled into the 24 TV series and before Reese Witherspoon had even made Election, and while they have both gone on to much bigger if not better things, director Bright has not. Well, I don't know what possessed him to imagine he was going to make too many Hollywood friends with this mighty chunk of wild and anti-establishment, two fingered spout of anger, but it is enormous fun to watch. Also, as with so much exploitative cinema it seems to tell far more truths than your average 'serious' movie. Sutherland is effective but Witherspoon amazing, I had forgotten how tremendous she could be. Varied, violent, funny and furious, this is worth a watch anytime.

I just saw this movie, and as soon as it started with the bizarre, embarrassingly bad "Red Riding Hood" opening credits and horrid cheap-sounding soundtrack, I was certain it was some sort of fake "knock-off" video, especially as someone gave me this copy as sold in Indonesia. The ending credits were really bad and fake-looking as well, so maybe both were replaced in the Indonesian version, not sure, but it also is so bad throughout, perhaps the entire movie was replaced? While watching this, my friends and I were almost certain the actor credits were fake and that it was filmed by a group of amateur film-makers (as it was so utterly badly made - I was certain it was made in Indonesia or other Foreign country and was meant to make fun of the West), until Keifer Sutherland showed up and we were fairly certain it was him. Was this a straight-to-video movie? It was just so badly made and badly acted even for a dark comedy. Just because it is a comedy doesn't mean you have to act as if you are playing around with the script and not saying the lines in any way that makes sense.The acting was so disturbingly over-the-top bad, the accents annoying and ridiculous throughout (sounded mostly like hillbillies from the more isolated areas of Kentucky - yet supposedly was taking place in California), and the actors themselves looking so awful in every way possible (even Brooke Shields looked as if they used CGI to warp her body into something not quite human in that weird sailor outfit - again unless our copy was tampered with), I'm certain this was MEANT to be a farce/comedy, especially with the ludicrous climax regarding the actual Little Red Riding Hood story - which kind of added insult to injury - how could any writer be THAT ridiculous? Obviously it wasn't meant to be crime drama or anything like that, even though the premise suggested it was drama. It does have an overwhelming "quickly made television movie" and "print every first take" feel.So it appears that this movie (or a version of it) WAS released in the USA (not sure about here in Australia) after all? I'm still fairly certain our copy was tampered with (especially the ridiculous looking and sounding opening and ending credits - that were in static-ridden Foreign-sounding music and in mono - which wouldn't meet even the lowest standards these days), as nothing could be that badly made and be released. Most of us thought that it was one of those "experimental" films that was made especially for places like Indonesia and never placed directly in the actors' credits, and which wasn't released elsewhere, but seeing the information on IMDb is quite stunning in its implications about the general populace... Unbelievable.

Freeway is a black comic take on Little Red Riding Hood.Reese Witherspoon plays a rather sweet and innocent looking young woman off to find her grandmother. Kiefer Sutherland plays a psychological serial killer, although not a fully paid up one but the free or Lite version.The film's strengths are the performance by Witherspoon who brings the character to life, and the screenplay which is funny in the extreme. Indeed I would be surprised if Witherspoon had not been nominated for an award in the role.Freeway is not a very politically correct film and is all the more enjoyable for it! This aspect of it could cause offence and as such has probably hindered it's publicity.Pros - Twisted, Dark, Comic TaleCons - None come to mindOverall - Baddass