Freedomland
Directed by: Joe Roth
Written by: Richard Price
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, William Forsythe

Thanks to the last couple of years in moviedom, I can assure you that Julianne Moore is about as apt a choice to babysit your child as is say… Freddy Krueger.

It was just months ago that Ms. Moore lost her child to aliens in The Forgotten and now – based more in a script of reality – she loses yet another youngin in the new mixed up drama/thriller Freedomland.

Freedomland stars Julianne Moore as Brenda Martin. Brenda is about as mixed up as cake batter. We first get introduced to her as she walks blocks to the nearest hospital and wastes copious amounts of time before revealing that she was carjacked and that her young son was in the backseat of the vehicle and is now somewhere in the hands of the black man who pulled her out of her car.

Enter one Lorenzo Council (the usually reliable Samuel L. Jackson). Lorenzo is the detective that gets assigned Brenda in the hospital and he stumbles when he hears the news about the missing child. In fact, his actions would be how Benny Hill might react to the same situation. He asks the same questions twice over and gets so excited that he needs a shot in order to calm him down and regulate his breathing. If this wasn’t sign enough that Brenda just got assigned the most inept cop to try and find son, just wait a couple of scenes and watch how Lorenzo doesn’t notice that there is a large red truck following him around – that is until such time as the plot requires the reveal.

So with the blind leading the blind, the story takes on many avenues. First, we get introduced to Danny Martin (Ron Eldard) who is both a cop and the uncle of the missing child. He quickly gets the men in uniform to scour the black neighborhood and has the power to set up barricades to ensure that the poor and impoverished are in a modern day lock-down. He beats up potential witnesses and runs interference to Lorenzo’s more tranquil and relaxed investigation.

Next, we get introduced to Edie Falco as Karen Collucci, a mother who lost a child herself and offers her counseling and organization skills to help in the search for the young boy. Her keen acumen leads a group of searchers to Freedomland – a forest on the outside of town – which in turn provides us with the pivotal reveal of the film.

I could ruin the reveal to you – and I should just to spare you from wasting your time and money on this dud – but what the hell, knock yourself out with the rental when it becomes available in about 5 weeks.

What I can reveal is that Freedomland is awful. A movie with Moore, Jackson and Falco directed by one-time studio boss Joe Roth (who comes off one of last years worst in Christmas with the Kranks), should have been on the must-see list. Instead, we have a movie that is so convoluted and disorganized that it is hard to believe that Richard Price took his own novel to produce this mess of a screenplay.

Hmmmmm. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the novel had so many characters and ideas that as screenwriter, Price didn’t know what to leave off while keeping himself happy while maintaining the integrity of the chapters. Who knows. All I know is that I don’t care.

Freedomland is a disaster. From beginning to end, it plays the race card unconvincingly whenever it wants and the big showdown between Moore and Jackson went on so long that I kept looking on the armrest for the converter to fast forward the scene.

Look for Freedomland to hit my Worst of List at the conclusion of the year. In the meantime, avoid at all costs. — Greg Roberts

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: Watching paint dry, Watching grass grow, Clipping toe nails

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