Freeway

Matthew Bright stuns with his outrageous directorial debut 'Freeway', one of the most original and subversive movies to emerge from Hollywood in years. Bright wrote the utterly bizarre 'Forbidden Zone' over twenty years ago (once seen, never forgotten!), but 'Freeway' shows he is a major talent. His only real competition in the hyper-real pop art black comedy stakes is Gregg Araki, whose 'Doom Generation' and 'Nowhere' display a similar kick ass sensibility.

Reese Witherspoon is dynamite as the white trash lethal Lolita Vanessa Lutz. Along with 'Election' her best role to date. Kiefer Sutherland gets his most interesting part in years as her nemesis, the slimy Bob. And the supporting cast is equally strong, especially dependable character actor Dan Hedaya ('Blood Simple', 'The Usual Suspects'), the cute Brittany Murphy ('Clueless') who oozes sex appeal, and Amanda Plummer ('Pulp Fiction') and Michael T. Weiss (er... 'Howling IV') as the parents from hell. I also got a real kick out of the cameo by veteran Sydney Lassick ('..Cuckoo's Nest', 'Sonny Boy'). Pity we don't get to see much of him here, or anywhere for that matter!

Witherspoon has gone on to well deserved stardom, but this remains one of her finest accomplishments. Bright faltered with the largely disappointing 'Freeway 2', but my money is on him. Anyone who can create a movie this fresh and cool deserves to be remembered!

Reese Witherspoon has never made a better movie than Freeway...Although I respect her for wanting to do more romantic/family oriented movies because of her daughter, I don't think even she realizes how amazing she was playing this role...She was completely foul mouthed and hot tempered, but her timing and attitude was fantastic..I recently realized how this movie is and has been potential for cult classic....Reese Witherspoon never mentions this movie in any interviews and I wish she would because I would like to hear her thoughts on playing Vanessa Julia Lutz...

I know, it may seem ridiculous to some, but actually, even after all these years (now well into 2012), this is still a film to watch, and no one could have delivered the key role more perfectly than Reese Witherspoon. She is simply spectacularly spot on with her characterization of the theme and culture that is her character here.

The story is a bit hard edged for some, but sadly, not entirely outside the realms of reality in the current world.

Do characters like hers in this film really exist as portrayed? Absolutely yes. Do characters like that portrayed by Sutherland, the predatory pedophile sociopath who appears to be so acceptably "normal" to the outside world? Absolutely yes, as recent history has shown only too clearly.

On the surface this may have appeared to be a sort of whacky, creepy crime thriller, but actually, if one actually takes the time to watch this film, there is much more to this than the ad copy may have suggested at the time.

It is still currently viable, to this very day . . . has stood the test of time.

And it is absolutely one of Reese's best ever performances.

Sadly, her more recent work has sort of flattened out into much less risky, complex roles, but hey, a great actress she is.

You ever recommend a film to a friend only to have the relationship strained after they take you up on your advice and spend their hard earned monies watching a film that they end up describing as ‘terrible', ‘awful' and ‘tormenting'?

This was the case when I recommended 1996's Freeway to a friend. Now granted, I had not seen the film in eight years, but I had fond memories and I could even remember the Roger Ebert/Gene Siskel show giving the film a recommendation back when movie reviews actually meant something. So it was therefore without fear that I challenged my friend (let's call him ‘Jim' to protect the guilty) to rent Freeway after we discussed one day how much we enjoyed films that were two blocks away from norm.

Three days later, there was a threatening phone call and a doll looking very much like me with a pin in its back hanging from my mailbox. I knew at that moment, that maybe I had made a mistake, and I purchased Freeway at the local DVD Warehouse to reacquaint myself with what has now become a friendship speed bump.

Freeway stars Reese Witherspoon and Keifer Sutherland in an updated version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale. Reese plays Vanessa Lutz, a young misguided teenager who sets out to meet her grandmother after police bust her mother and stepfather for drug possession and soliciting. While on the run from social services, Vanessa meets Bob Wolverton (Sutherland) who offers her a lift after her can breaks down on the high way.

Bob comes across as a sweet guy. A counselor for boys who offers sound advice and really seems to care. But as we all know in Hollywood, that is too good to be true. Just when Bob seems to gain the trust of Vanessa, he becomes increasingly agitated and violent. Vanessa relies on instinct and reaches for a gun given to her by her fiancé and shoots Bob. Four times.

As Vanessa goes to juvenile hall awaiting a trial, she finds out that Bob didn't die. Bob made his way to a local hospital and although saved from the big cloud in the sky, Bob is a hideous self with a deformed face and electronic voice box.

The movie then follows Vanessa as she violently escapes from jail and runs to her grandmother's house where Bob is in hiding a la the fairy tale. So with the police in hot pursuit it becomes a cat and mouse game that explodes with gunfire at a nearby trailer park.

So the movie was over, and quite frankly, I liked it even more the second time. The violence was ever present and the language (the movie was originally NC-17 due to it's explicit dialogue) was like a power drill to the forehead. No cuss word was left out. From A to Z, Reese Witherspoon spoke more profanity than in the rest of her filmography combined.

Upon my second viewing, I wondered if Reese Witherspoon has ever been challenged as much as writer/director Matthew Bright pushed her here. She ends up pulling off someone who can be very kind hearted, yet has a temper this side of Hannibal Lector. Kudos also to Keifer Sutherland who is no stranger to playing the weird unlikable characters. In Bob Wolverton, he gives us a creature that is so heinous and hideous that you will add this to your memory banks along with The Lost Boys and Stand By Me, whenever someone mentions his name.

I was also reintroduced to actors that I had forgotten contributed to the greatness of this independent. Dan Hedaya (Cheers), Amanda Plumber (Pulp Fiction), Brittany Murphy (Don't Say A Word) and Brooke Shields are just some of the talent that cross our viewing paths throughout this odyssey.

So now that it was over, I wondered where I lost Jim on the road to acceptance. Was it the time the teenager was describing in detail having oral sex with her stepfather? Was it the scene when Bob tells her he is going to have sex with her after he kills her? Maybe it was when Vanessa walks into a local diner covered in Bob's blood or we first see Bob after his attack with one eye gone and his head stuck between four spikes resting on his shoulders. Who knows? All I can write is that after viewing Freeway eight years later, I offer no apologies. The movie is brisk, violent and profane. I liken it to a Tarantino wet dream, and I would recommend it again no matter what the cost.

P.S. Jim, call me.

www.gregsrants.com

While watching this film I was disgusted, disturbed, and horrified while all the while LOVING THIS FILM. Living in a house where fairy tale literature is commonplace (my wife studies Children's Literature), I was surprised by this film. Seeing it in the value bin at most video stores, I expected poor production, horrible direction, and a pathetic cast. We have all seen these films that boast big names, but somehow never fully follow through. Freeway is nothing of the kind. It is a carefully written and delivered retelling of one of our most beloved fairy tales with a extremely dark twist.

Reece Witherspoon (pre-Legally Blonde) gives a performance that surprised me. I did not realize that she was so capable of bringing this character to life. Her counterpart, the illustrious 'Wolf', played by 80s child Keifer Sutherland, is yet another powerful force in this film. The two of them nearly carry this film on their shoulders. This is one of those perfect examples of a film that did not have much publicity after its release, but has since then obtained 'cult' status through avid viewer's word of mouth. This is definitely a film for all movie critics, film buffs, and fanatics to gaze at just once. I know there were some poor reviews when it was first released, but I am sure that a second viewing would bring this gem back to life.

I would also like to add that director Matthew Bright is a film genius. He successfully took a very wholesome and good natured story (or that we think) and transforms it into the fearsome dark story that it should be. Our society has the consistency of taking dark elements and transforming them into stories for our children. A wolf eats a grandmother in this story … how happy and uplifting is that? I applaud Bright for taking this story and transforming it into a modern day fairy tale. It is gripping, fascinating, and downright beautiful.

If you enjoyed Natural Born Killers and was hoping for a nicer twist, this film is your answer. I also suggest that if you couldn't get enough of Freeway that you try to get your hands on the very rare Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby. See how Bright delicately transforms yet another dark fairy tale (Hansel and Gretel) into a modern masterpiece.

Grade: ***** out of *****