Freeway (1996)

**_Vulgar, violent, darkly satirical updating of Lil’ Red Riding Hood_**

I’ve seen two of writer/director Matthew Bright’s movies before seeing this: The enlightening and moving “Dark Angel: The Ascent” from two years earlier and the well-done “Ted Bundy” from six years later. (He wrote the former and wrote/directed the latter). With “Freeway” he had way more money in which to work and it could’ve been his ticket to a bigtime filmmaker, yet it bombed at the box office. However, critics tended to laud it (Siskel & Ebert, for instance, gave it a ‘thumbs up’); and it went on to develop a cult following.

It’s a crime thriller meshed with hard-edged dark comedy. Despite the title, it’s not a road movie and the second half becomes a women-in-prison flick for the most part. If you can roll with its wild audaciousness and sexually explicit verbiage, it can be fun and amusing, but I was disappointed after seeing Bright’s aforementioned “Dark Angel,” which had nine-times LESS the budget.

“Freeway” is technically proficient and the actors do a fine job; it just wallows in foulness to the point of being an unpleasant experience. I’m sure Mark Bright was aiming for a Tarantino film, but he forgot to include meaty themes, as well as interesting characters and dialogues. Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting bits here and there, they’re just overshadowed by an unrelenting spirit of filth.

Reese Witherspoon was 20 years-old during shooting while Kiefer Sutherland was 29. For a similar film involving the latter that’s superior, check out “Desert Saints.”

It runs 1h 44m and was shot in the heart of summer 1995 in Los Angeles, as well as just north of there in Sylmar (Vanessa’s house) and Castaic (the interrogation).

GRADE: D+