When I stumbled across Freeway, I read that it was an adult twist on the “Little Red Riding Hood” story. I wondered why I’d never heard of it before, but now I understand.
I love when people take an old story and create something new out of it. I am not talking about the remakes of The Lion King or A Star Is Born, but when someone has genuinely explored a story and come up with their own retelling in a brand new way. I was very excited to watch this one.
Freeway is a modern retelling of the “Little Red Riding Hood” story. Vanessa is a high school student who struggles to read, is engaged to a boy in the same class, and lives with her prostitute mother and drug addict step-father. With her parental-figures both suddenly arrested, this tough-talking teen decides to try to live with the grandmother that she has never met. When her car breaks down on the road, she meets a shady man who gives her a ride and everything takes a strange turn (for the worse? I’m not sure, – it’s all pretty bleak already.)
The first half of this movie is incredibly clever and fun. Vanessa wears a bright red jacket and her mother wears a red shirt. Vanessa also carries a reddish-hued woven wicker basket to her car and the strange man on the highway is named Bob Wolverton. Super entertaining nods to the core story.
The cast is a fascinating group of actors, including Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Brooke Shields, Brittany Murphy, and Amanda Plummer, which adds to the intrigue.
I also found the first half very funny and laughed out loud several times. There is a lot of swearing, innuendo, blood, and violence as well, so bear in mind that this is not the fairy tale you heard when you were little. It’s much darker (although, the story is very dark, but people tend to forget that).
The second half of the film gets creepy, uncomfortable, weird, and inane – and none of it in a good way. It becomes less and less interesting as time goes on – as they move away from the “Little Red Riding Hood” story – with a cast of characters that Vanessa meets up with after being confined to a girl’s penitentiary.
A few cool things of note though – this film came out in 1996 and Legally Blonde was released in 2001. Alanna Ubach (who plays Serena, one of Elle’s best friends) is also in this film, and at one point the words, “Pooh Bear” are randomly used (Warner’s term of affection in Legally Blonde). Also, Danny Elfman did the music for Freeway and I kept getting swept away with what felt like music from Edward Scissorhands. His style is undeniable.
The rating I’m giving this movie is not because it was “just okay.” It’s because the first half is so strange and engrossing, and the second half is far less interesting, off-story, and much slower. So when I add those two together, it lands right in the middle.
Runtime: 101 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: R
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? No, I’d probably skip it unless you are as intrigued as I was by the subject
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Available: Free on Pluto TV and Tubi, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
I love when people take an old story and create something new out of it. I am not talking about the remakes of The Lion King or A Star Is Born, but when someone has genuinely explored a story and come up with their own retelling in a brand new way. I was very excited to watch this one.
