06/17/06 Freeway

Freeway (1996), directed by Matthew Bright

watched w/ Leslie; DVD (borrowed from Shanna & Beth) @ Bonnaroo: Camp Clubber Lang (Manchester, TN)

Described to me as both wickedly funny and borderline disturbing, I thought this would be a perfect campsite movie to watch at the equally fun & borderling chaotic Bonnaroo festival. We were right in the middle of the long dirty camping experience, and figured why not choose a film that will make us feel even dirtier? So goes "Freeway," a modern day take of the classic fable "Little Red Riding Hood." No longer is it just a story for kids, as this one has bigger teeth than grandma. Here's the plot, warts and all...Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon) has a horrendous childhood, involving drugs, sex, crime, violent behavior, her boyfriend Chopper being killed in a drive-by shooting and parental abuse. Rather than be subjected to a foster home & lose the only family she has (what's wrong with this chick...ditch the creeps!), she decides to escape and head for...you guessed it grandma's house (actually a trailer park). Along the way she meets even more creepy Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a counselor for troubled young men, who uses Vanessa's shaky mental state against her to gain her trust and manipulate his way to his own sexual advances. Once this tough-as-nails Southern chick realizes he's a twisted freak serial killer, she exacts her revenge on him...horribly maiming him and leaving him for dead. Yeah that's right, little miss dainty southern belle Reese Witherspoon. Wolverton is crafty and has no previous record, so in court...of course it's his pathetic word against hers...her violent past tendencies being enough to sentence her to jail as an adult. So, now all she has to do is bust some heads, bust out of jail, and finish the big bad wolf off like the story of yore. It's a very dark humor to the senseless violence, where you end up rooting for one criminal against another. Ewww, doesn't it just make you feel bad?! I give props to Reese here for stretching her sweet demeanor to get this depth of crack-head acting. However, I would be remiss in not mentioning supporting actress Brittany Murphy here for simply sticking to her guns as always trying psycho crack-head acting.

3 out of 5 stars