This is an alternative modern take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon) is a poor, foul-mouthed, illiterate L.A. teen living with her drug-addicted hooker mother Ramona and lascivious stepfather Larry. Ramona and Larry get arrested. Vanessa escapes social worker Mrs. Sheets to search for her maternal grandmother whom she has never met. Her boyfriend Chopper Wood has a court date and can't join her. He gives her his gun and is later shot in a drive-by. Her car breaks down and is picked up by school counselor Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland). He reveals himself to be the I-5 Killer but Vanessa is able to shot him. He survives and nobody believes her due to her checkered past and her attitude. She's in jail while the trial goes on. She orchestrates a violent escape during transport. Police detectives Breer and Wallace uncover new evidences against Bob. Bob drives away and tracks down Vanessa's grandmother. It is the classic fairy tale face-off.The Little Red Riding Hood fable has its own blood and gore. The old European tale is not a cute Disney affair and filmmaker Matthew Bright adapts it with some hard subject matter. There are moments when he does pull back. There may be some editing to get the needed rating. The dialog is hard but it could be snappier. The plot takes an extra turn into prison which may not be advisable. The flow gets somewhat disrupted by the detour and the ending is a bit rushed. I also would have liked the boyfriend Chopper Wood in grandma's trailer. This is definitely a different type of Little Red Riding Hood.

Reese Witherspoon made this riveting thriller before she became everybody's favorite sweetheart. The "Legally Blond" star plays a foul-mouthed, illiterate teenager named Vanessa Lutz who hitches a ride with an older man after her car breaks down on the freeway. He offers her a lift as far as Los Angeles and even takes her out to dinner. Later, he turns out to be a notorious California highway serial killer who has been making headlines. Kiefer Sutherland is thoroughly obnoxious as Bob Wolverton, a bespectacled boys counselor who gets more than he bargained for after he picks up Vanessa, cuts off her ponytail, and threatens to rape her corpse. She whips out a small, Spanish-made automatic pistol that her boyfriend, Chopper (Bokeem Woodbine) gave her moments before he died in a drive-by shooting. Vanessa lands in jail but she does not stick long before she breaks out and joins a group of Hispanic girls who pull tricks on the side. All Vanessa wants to do is go to Stockton, California, so she can live with her grandmother rather than wind up in another horrible foster home.The dialogue brims with profanity and the subject matter is very unsavory. Witherspoon gives a dynamic performance. If you think that Witherspoon is cast against the grain, wait until you see a grown-up Brooke Shields who plays the wife of the serial killer."Freeway" is an unforgettable dark comedy that doesn't pull any of its punches!

I just saw this movie, and as soon as it started with the bizarre, embarrassingly bad "Red Riding Hood" opening credits and horrid cheap-sounding soundtrack, I was certain it was some sort of fake "knock-off" video, especially as someone gave me this copy as sold in Indonesia. The ending credits were really bad and fake-looking as well, so maybe both were replaced in the Indonesian version, not sure, but it also is so bad throughout, perhaps the entire movie was replaced? While watching this, my friends and I were almost certain the actor credits were fake and that it was filmed by a group of amateur film-makers (as it was so utterly badly made - I was certain it was made in Indonesia or other Foreign country and was meant to make fun of the West), until Keifer Sutherland showed up and we were fairly certain it was him. Was this a straight-to-video movie? It was just so badly made and badly acted even for a dark comedy. Just because it is a comedy doesn't mean you have to act as if you are playing around with the script and not saying the lines in any way that makes sense.The acting was so disturbingly over-the-top bad, the accents annoying and ridiculous throughout (sounded mostly like hillbillies from the more isolated areas of Kentucky - yet supposedly was taking place in California), and the actors themselves looking so awful in every way possible (even Brooke Shields looked as if they used CGI to warp her body into something not quite human in that weird sailor outfit - again unless our copy was tampered with), I'm certain this was MEANT to be a farce/comedy, especially with the ludicrous climax regarding the actual Little Red Riding Hood story - which kind of added insult to injury - how could any writer be THAT ridiculous? Obviously it wasn't meant to be crime drama or anything like that, even though the premise suggested it was drama. It does have an overwhelming "quickly made television movie" and "print every first take" feel.So it appears that this movie (or a version of it) WAS released in the USA (not sure about here in Australia) after all? I'm still fairly certain our copy was tampered with (especially the ridiculous looking and sounding opening and ending credits - that were in static-ridden Foreign-sounding music and in mono - which wouldn't meet even the lowest standards these days), as nothing could be that badly made and be released. Most of us thought that it was one of those "experimental" films that was made especially for places like Indonesia and never placed directly in the actors' credits, and which wasn't released elsewhere, but seeing the information on IMDb is quite stunning in its implications about the general populace... Unbelievable.

Kiefer Sutherland makes a great performance in this movie. The big surprise is that Reese Witherspoon does the best part I've seen her in. A troubled teenager with tons of attitude. Who'd have known? A hidden treasure! Some good other characters, for example the woman who tries to rob a restaurant in Pulp Fiction with her husband, plays the role as Witherspoon's mother. I'd definitely recommend everyone to buy this movie if you can find it. I could watch more than once, no doubt! You never really know which turn is coming next and I'd say it's a pretty unique story told her. Well, sorry if the review is not so well written but I just wanted to share the experience with someone else.