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Freeway (1996)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 8/04, 4/15

Freew
8/04: Provocative and unusual, Freeway is a delight to watch.

Many times, it's also in-your-face and pulls no punches. If anything, Reese Witherspoon's performance is the driving force behind the success of the film. She's surrounded by many interesting characters, so it's easy for her to connect with them and have engaging conversations.

Kiefer Sutherland's acting is better than usual and brings a level of creepiness to the show that's not seen often. However, there's no suspense because Kiefer is so typecast that I knew his character was the bad guy, no matter how hard he can avoid it.

When Vanessa showed the picture of her father to Bob, I knew who that was. It's Richard Speck, the notorious creepy mass murderer from Chicago. There's a nice tie-in with Little Red Riding Hood which isn't a whole lot. As a matter of fact, the association feels forced.

All in all, if there's a well-made film about white trash that's fun to watch, it's Freeway.

4/15: Having viewed Freeway sometime in 1997, I saw how good of an actress Reese Witherspoon was.

Hence, I'm not surprised at her ascent to stardom. Much has been said about the parallels between Freeway and Little Red Riding Hood, but I feel it's been overblown and not worth bothering with. Minus the red clothes, the red basket which serves a red herring so to speak, the use of grandmother to advance the plot, and the implication of Bob's last name, there's not enough evidence to link the two together because most of the plot revolves around how much of white trash Vanessa Lutz is.

What I hate is the manipulation. There's no way in hell anyone accused of murder, who's presumably transported to another detention center, stops at a convenience store for a bathroom break and is led there without handcuffs on. After Vanessa murders the police officer before escaping, where's the APB on her? Another thing I hate is the wife's mistreatment by the two detectives. It's annoying to put up with. Unsurprisingly, it would lead to her suicide because these two couldn't look past the notion of "she probably knew what was going on."

Back to acting, the performances are mostly excellent. Amanda Plummer gets the ball rolling as a believable drugged-out prostitute. Kiefer Sutherland gives one of the better performances of his career; he looks credible as a psychologist by the way he moves, talks, and listens. Reese Witherspoon can be over the top at times by displaying more range than usual. The best part is her conversations with Kiefer in the SUV which are well-shot.

All in all, my rating of Freeway is downgraded from '9' to '6' because it moves slow, is manipulative during some scenes, and can be ridiculous at times.