NateWatchesCoolMovies Matthew Bright's Freeway is the most effed up, disturbing take on the Little Red Riding Hood tale you'll find, and the only time Reese Witherspoon totally cut loose, got down n' dirty to truly give a performance straight from the gutter. You can't spell gutter without gut, which is the primary place this film operates from, gag reflex and all, and the same goes for her wickedly funny firebrand of a performance. The filmmakers have taken every minuscule plot point from Riding Hood and deliberately thought up the most disgusting and deplorable ways to drag them through the mud, churning forth a film that is so sickeningly perverted that you can't take your eyes or ears off it once, kind of like a fresh, glistening pile of roadkill on the interstate that induces retching, yet is compelling in a sense, even attractive in its ability to morbidly hold your attention by being something that's outside the norm. Witherspoon is Vanessa Lutz, a trailer park baby who's been dealt a rough hand in life on all fronts. Her kindly boyfriend (Bokeem Woodbine) is tied up in dat gang life, her mom (Amanda Plummer) is an unstable slut-bag and her stepdad (Michael T. Weiss) has a case of… wandering hands, shall we say. Vanessa picks up and leaves town to go visit her grandmother, but no sooner does she hit the road, she's tossed from the frying pan right into the fire when she's picked up by psychiatric counsellor Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland). Bob is your classic clean cut, mild mannered yuppie, save for the fact that he also happens to be a dangerous pedophiliac serial killer, and she's now in his car. Vanessa is a force to be reckoned with though, as Bob soon finds out, and the two of them wage sleazy war all over the state, until one or both are either dead or incarcerated. It's so much heinous mayhem and depravity that one reaches saturation point and just had to go with the grimy flow, either that or walk out of the theatre, but that'd make you a bitch. Witherspoon and Sutherland are having a howling good time, each sending up their Hollywood image in the type of roles that John Waters or Wayne Kramer would think up some lonely night. Bob is the worst type of offender, and one has to laugh when he's wheeled into court, facially deformed at the hands of Vanessa, and she proceeds to savagely berate him on his looks, dropping insults that you can hear whistling through the air, delivered like gunshots by Witherspoon, then only barely twenty years old, who has never been this good in any film since. Funnier still is Wolverton's naive wife looking on in aghast horror as only Brooke Shields can do with that soap opera stare. Other talents include Dan Hedaya as a stoic Detective, Conchata Farrell, Tara Subkoff and Brittany Murphy as a creepy cell mate Vanessa meets while in holding. Anyone claiming to be a fan of Witherspoon who hasn't seen this just needs to take the time and do so, she's just the most foul mouthed, violent, adorably profane trashbag pixie you could ever imagine, especially when on screen with Sutherland, who has never been more evil or intimidating. This is one fairy tale you wouldn't show the kids, but it still stands as my favourite cinematic version of Riding Hood to this day. There's a sequel out there somewhere too, but I can't weigh in on it as I haven't had the time so far to check it out. I doubt it reaches the heights of sordid delight achieved here though.

gavin6942 A twisted take on 'Little Red Riding Hood' with a teenage juvenile delinquent (Reese Witherspoon) on the run from a social worker traveling to her grandmother's house and being hounded by a charming, but sadistic, serial killer / pedophile (Kiefer Sutherland).I really thought this would be good, as it stars one of my favorite Sutherlands. And, you know, he is really good in it, but that did not save the film. Actually, most of those involved were really good. It was more the plot and script that seemed messy and convoluted. The "Red Riding Hood" aspect is very small, and this seems to be more in the vein of "Natural Born Killers", though not nearly as good.I suppose it is worth a watch, especially now that Witherspoon is huge star. But it is far from the best film she has done.

Rodrigo Amaro Only in the 1990's that you had a enormous stream of twisted, violent, dark films with awkward funny moments, and writers and directors got away with it, although some of them haven't lived up to higher expectations with the noble exception of Coen brothers. Far away from being intelligent like Coen's films "Freeway" comes to amaze us with bringing the story of Little Red Riding Hood in a different environment with many violent and funny situations.Reese Witherspoon plays the troubled Vanessa, a girl whose mother and stepfather were arrested, and she doesn't want to go to foster care or similar, deciding instead on going to her grandmother's house, the only place she can go. This Little Red Riding Hood won't bring cookies to grandma, and she's not so innocent like the old tale, here's a girl with lots of problems and lots of anger too after meeting her Big Bad Wolf, Bob a friendly psycho killer (Kiefer Sutherland) who picks her up on the road after her car broke. What comes after it's a hilarious and twisted story about two figures that don't know how to get rid of each other, in a plot that involves murders, juvenile prison for girls, a funny trial, punchlines in the wrong time to make us laugh all the time.It's not for everyone's tastes, it's certainly that not everyone will find the story funny as a comedy instead of a ridiculous way as the plot might suggest. It's full of surprises, very uncompromising and has some interesting performance from Witherspoon as the talking/smart/violent/Christian girl who manages to survive the whole ride meeting creepy characters on the way, and a nice performance from Kiefer playing the friendly guy who ends up being a killer trapped in his own evilness, after the girl shoot him several times, and this guy for some reason doesn't die but keeps living a painful life after. The scenes with both in the car, talking about her problems and he's playing the good listener was very good, and sometimes I wish that the whole movie would be focused on them doing this because it was interesting so these two change to each other the way they act, talk and all, but then we would have a dramatic feature, something that this film is not. How come one stumble upon this film? Simple! Of 5 films credited on IMDb you'll see in 4 random titles the suggestion for this film, and I gotta recognize that the promotion is a little bit over-the-top but it made me curious to watch it, and it turned out to be a great film. One year in a crusade after "Freeway" I finally watched, enjoyed, it got me laughing and surprised despite a few clichés here and there. If you can see humor in bizarre situations that in ordinary life wouldn't be funny then this film is for you! 10/10

captaintrps This movie is horrible. I spent the majority of the time holding down the fast forward button on my remote.Reese W. does well despite the horrible film that this is. Keifer S. should just stay retired or go in hiding or wherever he was before this came out.Reese has to regret doing this film.Very predictable, with no plot or storyline that you're average movie buff couldn't come up with. I don't see where this has anything to do with the little red riding hood story. They forced that association onto this film.This is not worth watching at all. The weekend opening gross tells the story. Don't waste your time, or spoil your thoughts that Reese W. is fun to watch on film.