Freeway

Freeway (1996)

  • 76% of critics liked it
    (37 reviews)

  • 72% of users liked it
    (21,599 ratings)

In this postmodern exploitation flick loosely based on "Little Red Riding Hood," the uneducated daughter of a drug-addicted prostitute flees the foster-care system in search of her long-lost grandmother but meets up instead with a serial killer. Vanessa (Reese Witherspoon), a nearly… More

Play Trailer

R,
Directed By
Written By
Matthew Bright
Genres
Mystery & Suspense, Drama
In Theaters
Aug 23, 1996 Wide
Republic Pictures Home Video

Critic Reviews

  • , Time Out

    There's not much edification in store, and [director] Bright cruises over some bumpy plot holes, but the teen's perspective does put a black comic spotlight on wider social hypocrisies.

  • Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times

    Freeway glints here and there with dark humor amounting to a knowing wink that undercuts the cautionary tale at its heart and the seriousness of its graphic sociology.

  • Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

    Cynical, stylish and witty.

  • Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

    Rude in the way the truth is rude -- only funnier.

  • Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

    It's too drawn-out, too talky and, at the most crucial moment, needlessly implausible, to sustain its humor and large dose of violence.

Read all 13 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Chris W


    Vanessa Lutz is a nearly illiterate, poor, and troubled California teenager with a really awful back story which includes all kinds of abuse and criminal behavior. After her mother and stepfather (also very sketchy and tainted) are arrested, she decides to escape the thought of foster… More

  • Bethany M


    It's hard not to love Reese Witherspoon in anything. This film was mad, crazy, over the top and at times quite hilarious. It's a great modern version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and even though the ending is predictable, you can't help but like it and you end… More

  • Cassandra M


    Based on the classic Grimm Brothers tale, Little Red Riding Hood; Freeway is the disjointed and frankly weird odyssey following a young girl on the way to her grandmother's home. The film begins much like any other hitchhiking film, with a young girl being picked up by a slightly… More

  • Nani V


    I found the movie to be hilarious in so many ways. There were some cheesy parts, but I think that's how they were meant to be...For example, Reese Witherspoon is super tiny, but she was "beating" up these people. Those scenes were also funny to watch. Kiefer… More

  • Curtis L


    Wow. What a messed up movie, but in all the good ways. Sutherland's drool face is priceless, and I actually liked Reese Witherspoon for one of the first times in my life. "Do you want me to shoot you a whole bunch of times?"

Read all 17 featured audience ratings

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