Freeway (1996)

Director:

Matthew Bright

Writer:

Matthew Bright (written by)

Release Date:

3 September 1997 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Her life is no fairy tale.

Plot:

A twisted take on 'Little Red Riding Hood' with a teenage juvenile delinquent on the run from a social worker traveling to her grandmother's house and being hounded by a charming, but sadistic, serial killer/pedophile.

Plot Keywords:

Freeway | Nightmare | Drugs | Police | Prostitution

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kiefer Sutherland	...	Bob Wolverton
Reese Witherspoon	...	Vanessa Lutz
Bokeem Woodbine	...	Chopper
Paul Perri	...	Cop #1
Robert Peters	...	Cop #2
Ben Meyerson	...	Cop at Truckstop
Craig Barnett	...	Cop #3
G. Eric Miles	...	Cop #4
Wolfgang Bodison	...	Detective Mike Breer
Dan Hedaya	...	Detective Garrett Wallace
Chris Renna	...	Doctor
Kathleen Marshall	...	ER Nurse
Melinda Renna	...	Female Anchor
Guillermo Díaz	...	Flacco
Kitty Fox	...	Naomi Frohlegger - Grandma

MPAA:

Rated R for strong lurid violence and sexual dialogue, some sexual situations, drug content and language.

Runtime:

110 min | Australia:97 min | France:102 min | USA:102 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (No. 34357) (edited for re-rating) | New Zealand:R18 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:Refused Classification (original rating) | Australia:R (edited for re-rating) | Canada:R | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | France:-16 | Germany:16 | South Korea:18 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:NC-17 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Kushner-Locke Company, The

Trivia:

The fake blood used in the truck stop scene produced an allergic reaction to Reese Witherspoon's skin.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bob and Vanessa are fighting in the trailer Bob fires off 19 shots. Bob appears to be wielding a .45 semi-automatic pistol with a standard magazine, which means it could hold 9 bullets (8 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber). Even an extended magazine (which would have been clearly visible protruding from the bottom of the gun handle) would only hold 14 bullets maximum.

Quotes:

Vanessa: What, you're gonna do sex to me when I'm dead?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Welcome to Hollywood (1998)

Soundtrack:

SURE FEELS GOOD

Witherspoon Starshine

In other hands this story might have become just another cheesy teen exploitation flick. But in Matthew Bright's "Freeway" we have a solid script, confident direction, an excellent supporting cast, and a gleefully twisted world view, all backing up a boldly brilliant star-turn performance by Reese Witherspoon. Her Vanessa Lutz is brazen, coarse, violent, manipulative, and seemingly doomed no matter which way she turns. But at the end of the day, of every day, she remains her own person, and nothing can intimidate or stop her. Witherspoon seems to live and breathe this demanding role, with never a hint of 'acting a part' -- which is to say she is doing some very fine acting indeed. Vanessa Lutz is a role like Forrest Gump, though even more challenging, where one tiny step out of character would spoil the whole thing. But Miss Witherspoon never misses.

Plus, it was great to see Kiefer Sutherland play a smarmy, goody-two-shoes psychopathic villain. Much more fun than his trained chipmunk limp-wrist tendentiousness in "24." I have seen no evidence that this man can actually act, but he really does not need to here. When he first appeared on screen I thought, 'Oh no, this movie's over.' But soon I discovered, to my delight, that he he had been cast precisely for his pathetic loser quality.

For some reason IMDB classifies Freeway as a 'crime/drama,' which mostly misses the point. It is a diabolical black comedy with lots of violent action, some of it realistic, but most of it wonderfully absurd. All in all it earns a solid 8/10 for being funny and satisfying, a movie which I would happily watch again.