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Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe ... see more see more... , Aunjanue Ellis , Anthony Mackie , LaTanya Richardson Jackson , Clarke Peters , Marlon Sherman , Domenick Lombardozzi , Aasif Mandvi , Eldard Forsythe

Joe Roth directs his adaptation of Richard Price's novel Freedomland from a script by the author. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a police detective who must investigate a distraught woman (Julianne Moore)... read more read more... who claims that her child was kidnapped by a black man. The accusation stirs up much racial animosity in the town. Edie Falco co-stars. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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31% liked it

99,548 ratings

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23% liked it

149 critics

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Directed by: Joe Roth

Release Date: February 17, 2006

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DVD Release Date: May 30, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (2,040)

  • moonrivers
    February 22, 2012
    moonrivers
    An ex-druggie white mom claims that she was car-jacked in a black neighborhood ... and that her 4 year old was in the back seat. Thus erupts simmering racial hatred, profiling, police brutality and mucho uber-drama in this uneven effort that has eyes bigger than its stomach. Th... read moree work of Jackson, Moore and Falco do a lot towards saving what could'be been one truly disastrous mess but only just.
  • cosmo313
    March 4, 2011
    cosmo313
    This film had the potential to be excellent. Freedomland is a grown-up crime drama/mystery film with an actual story and substance, which is the complex relationship between law enforcement and racial isuues/tension. It's not that films like this aren't being made, because they a... read morere, it's just that they're not as pervasive as they once were.

    This starts off pretty promising and strong, but quickly spirals out of hand, losing focus, and becoming a muddled, confused story where nothing is quite as it seems, with the end result being a limp noodle that just sort of fizzles into nothing. The story does get resolved of course, but it is disappointing and rather anticlimatic.

    The direction isn't terrible, but it seems like there's a lack of confidence or maybe that the material is good enough to hold things together. The script was adapted from a book, with the screenwriter responsible for both. Maybe the book is better, maybe not. It just feels like with the movie though that something (or a lot of things) may be missing, because when things lose foucs, they also stop making total sense.

    The acting is good though. I like the cast, and they give decent performances. In fact, that's probably the only really decent thing at work here. It's just too bad that the material and the execution couldn't also be as strong. The film, despite it's problems, is just kind of average, and not a complete train wreck. Perhaps my bias towards the actors is affecting things, but this film really seems like it's just average compared to similar works, but not completely bad.
  • garyX
    February 26, 2009
    garyX
    A bloodied woman stumbles into an emergency room accusing an unknown black assailant of stealing her car with her 4 year old son still sleeping in the back. Detective Samuel L. Jackson investigates while trying to diffuse the ensuing racial friction in the local projects. Hollywo... read moreod has another stab at a thriller that tackles race relations, and once again is found wanting. The level of subtlety on display here makes Crash look like a gritty documentary, and Julianne Moore sniffles and whines her way through the film as a completely one dimensional hysterical mother. Even SLJ struggles to keep this sentimental drivel afloat, but despite his usual commanding presence, the weak script and trite dialogue means that following a couple of unbelievable plot contrivances and meaningless platitudes on the level of "God moves in mysterious ways" even he is starting to look embarrassed to be there. This is one of those films that you watch because the star names make you think it deserves attention, but by the end their choice to become involved with such simplistic, melodramatic nonsense makes you feel a little betrayed by them. If you're hankering for some race related drama done right (and even featuring the man himself) I'd stick with Do The Right Thing.
  • TheMachinist
    June 22, 2008
    TheMachinist
    How bad can somebody act? I've liked Julianne Moore since Boogie Nights and she also has Magnolia on her credits. But her acting in this totally horrible film is so awful. How annoying can somebody be?

    The acting in overall was one of the worst I've seen in a while. None of the ... read moreactors can say that they did a good job.

    The script was also a total underachievement. Some of the lamest monologues can be heard in this one.

    I've never fastforwarded in a movie or skipped a chapter, cuz I think a movie is meant to be seen from start to finish, but I was so close to do it for the first time in my life.

    If you're waiting for a boring 2 hours where annoyment is lurking just behind the dark corner... go for it.
  • 76Majikat
    September 12, 2007
    76Majikat
    Most definitely my favourite performance by Julieanne Moore. There is more than one storyline here. Great performances also from Samuel L.Jackson and a smaller part from Edie Falco.

    VERDICT: Without a doubt, I recommend watching (however I'm not gonna send out recommendatio... read morens for this film, in light of topical issues)
  • Camus123
    July 16, 2007
    Camus123
    Freedomland begins in a housing project in N.J. Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is establishing his character as a "policeman of the projects." Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) enters a hospital with blood stained hands. Martin claims that she was jacked by a "black m... read morean" and that was it. She is clean for five years (in recovery) and actually works in the projects. She claims that had been heading back to the projects to retrieve her glasses. This was late in the evening-around 11 pm or so. As Council pushes her she gives up that her son was in the back of the car when it was jacked. It comes out that Brenda's Brother, Danny Martin (Ron Eldard)is on the force. You can see where this is going. Racial tension swarms, the cops shut down the projects, a hunt ensues. All of the subplots about Brenda's life, race riots, recovery, single parenting, kidnapping...they are all there, but NONE fleshed out well at all. Everything gets summed up within a scene or a monologue. This movie begged a lot of questions, but addressed very few leaving poorly drawn conclusions to drawn out conflict. You see the ending coming a mile away. You know what happened from the get go, but they keep circling around through different lines that only intersect when it is convenient to the what is happening at that moment. It might have been more poignant to get there and hit it hard. Jackson is the best thing about this movie, but he was far from his best. Moore is in a haze, but...to what end? The racial tension issue was left pretty untouched save for a few scenes and I think that was a really important part of the movie. This had the makings...it just did not make it.
  • Deano78
    June 10, 2007
    Deano78
    A film that deals with race and class as a young white mother claims of being highjacked and having her child snatched while near the rundown area of the city. But is all as it seems?
  • deano
    August 29, 2006
    deano
    Average.
  • mrbungle7821
    May 20, 2006
    mrbungle7821
    [center][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred][img]http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/1512/photo099ay.jpg[/img][/color][/size][/font][/center]

    [font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]There?s one thing I?m going to remember about [i]Freedomland[/i] more than anything: seeing this movie cos... read moret me about $300. Allow me to explain. Upon returning home from seeing this terrible film, I received an e-mail from a friend alerting me that a secret code had been floating around the Internet. This code was to be used at Amazon.com, and when punched in at the check-out, your order would be free as long as it totaled over 80 dollars. Just as I was about to check out with over $300 in DVDs, books and CDs the window closed and the code was no longer working. If I had not seen [i]Freedomland[/i] then I would have gotten this news earlier and would have been able to obtain my booty. Alas, I did see [i]Freedomland[/i], a drama that attempts to shed light on ?s racial woes. Movie mogul Joe Roth, the head of Revolutions Studios, doesn?t direct movies fairly often and when he does they?re fairly awful ([i]America?s Sweethearts[/i], [i]Christmas with the Kranks[/i]). I knew exactly what I was getting into when I entered the theater; I just didn?t know it was going to cost me $300.[/color][/size][/font]

    [font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]In 1999 New Jersey , Brenda (Julianne Moore) walked dazed and bloodies through an urban neighborhood to a hospital. She tells detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) that she was the victim of a car jacking while she was traveling through an urban area. She says a black man threw her from her car and drove off. Brenda?s four-year-old son Cody is still in the car. This sets the neighboring communities abuzz. Brenda?s hot-headed cop brother (Ron Eldard) is ready to turn the black projects and high rises upside down, unafraid of whom he may harass. The black community is in an uproar over the treatment, succinctly pointing out that many black children go missing but the news vans and police cars only come out when the missing happens to be white (for further proof, look to the still ongoing coverage of Natalee Halloway). Karen (Edie Falco) runs a team of mothers who volunteer nationwide to help find missing children. Lorenzo has his own doubts about Brenda and the details of her story.[/color][/size][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][color=darkred][size=2]Plain and simple, [i]Freedomland[/i] just does not have enough story to justify its existence. It goes nowhere and practically drifts to its long-awaited conclusion. You?ll see the light at the end of the tunnel around the halfway mark, and then [i]Freedomland[/i] limps to its foreseeable ending, devoid of any twists and turns that aren?t telegraphed a mile away. It got so pathetic that I was actually hoping, against all odds, there?d be some gonzo M. Night Shyamalan-esque twist at the very end to jar me out of my complacency. No such luck. The marketing folks of [i]Freedomland[/i] seemed to advertise a twist ending, which is hard to believe since everything plays out exactly like you?d first suspect. Moore ?s overacting hysteria makes the audience doubt her from the start; plus the fact that Brenda?s like, ?Oh yeah, I almost forgot, my SON is in the hijacked car."[/size][/color][/font][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]This is a movie so mishandled by Roth that every moment feels false, and when it doesn?t feel false it feels trite and awkward. Take a moment when Lorenzo takes Brenda to an empty urban high-rise. He?s got her pinned in a corner, very literally, and is pressing to know if she killed her kid. The framing of the scene would almost suggest something quasi-romantic, with Lorenzo leaning very closely into Brenda and his arm against the wall beside her. At the very least, it?s really intrusive. And then at the end of Brenda?s ?he was all I got? monologue the two actors seem to just stare at each other, like they?re mentally waiting to hear the word ?Cut.? The weird framing and the editing make the scene embarrassingly amateurish.[/color][/size][/font][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]But Roth doesn?t stop there. Freedomland itself is a gigantic mislead, and the old abandoned building has about five minutes of total screen time. It?s not enough to even qualify as a red herring, let alone justify it as a movie title. Apparently, this building has been rotting in the woods for decades, and yet Lorenzo lets a large volunteer search party just trounce around inside. I?m pretty sure any policeman worth their salt would need to get a team to make sure the building was structurally sound before letting civilians snoop around in a potential crime scene. That?s not enough stupidity. Later while the people are exploring the Freedomland building, Karen says the floorboards may give way at any moment, and then she leaves Brenda by herself with said unreliable floorboards. Do these people even understand what they?re doing?[/color][/size][/font][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][size=2][font=Arial][color=darkred][i]Freedomland[/i] seems so message-hungry and preoccupied with making some Big Statement that it forgets to be entertaining. Roth is clueless how to juggle all his plot elements, letting the racial tensions turn both sides into offensive stereotypes. The white cops have short fuses and have no hesitation to assault innocent black people (they?d be suspended and then reviewed). The black community in [i]Freedomland[/i], while seeming to have nothing better to do than assemble and shout at the police, stir up their community ills whenever the plot deems it necessary. Some black people are seen setting the community?s own property on fire, swept up in the rising air of a riot. Rafik, a youth given a lot of foreshadowing, instigates the riot and an entire wall of angry black faces proceeds, never mind that this brash decision results in many innocent people being beaten. The movie seems to say that all blacks are victims or instigators. [i]Freedomland[/i] is so earnest to be earnest that it misses the mark when it comes to all the details. How else to explain why the film is inexplicably set in 1999. Someone didn?t tell the film?s costume designer, because Rafik is wearing a ?G-Unit? shirt, a rap group that didn?t come into light until after 50 Cent?s commercial rise in 2003.[/color][/font][/size][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]Perhaps the film?s ending is Roth?s biggest misfire. Lorenzo visits Cody?s shallow grave, now festooned with flowers and personal messages. He reads one that says, basically, ?Cody?s death made us all look beyond our differences and realize what we have in common, the ability to feel sad.? What? Is Roth actually justifying the death of a child and subsequent racial fallout as being medicine for society?s ills? This seems ridiculous to me, especially after sitting through two hours of a movie where no one came together, unless you?re talking about the human connection of fist-to-face.[/color][/size][/font][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][size=2][font=Arial][color=darkred]The acting in [i]Freedomland[/i] is so unrestrained and shows another of Roth?s directorial weaknesses. Moore , always so reliable a performer, goes out of her mind and gives what should be the worst performance of her career. She?s so over the top, so Looney tunes, so wildly out of control with no bearing, she?s practically bouncing off the walls; it?s flat-out embarrassing to watch. Her hysterical theatrics provide several moments of unintentional laughter, particularly a moment where Lorenzo is interrogating her and she just blurts out, ?I love you.? [i]Freedomland[/i] does her no service by handing her some dredful dialogue and drawn out monologues. I think it may be time for Moore to star in something a little happier instead of more movies where she?s predominantly crying or grieving. And is it me, or does it seem like Moore has a habit of losing her kids in movies (maybe she should start tethering them to her waist)? Note to Julianne Moore: just because you get to cry and scream, doesn?t mean you should take the role. Did you actually read the script to [/color][/font][i][font=Arial][color=darkred]Freedomland?[/color][/font][/i][/size][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][size=2][font=Arial][color=darkred]Jackson, left directionless with an underdeveloped character, reverts to his standard operating procedure when it comes to authority figures ... namely staring and yelling. Lorenzo has some character traits (asthma, a son in prison) that are either dropped or have no payoff or insight toward his character. He?s a cop in the middle of it all, and yet [i]Freedomland[/i] feels like just having Jackson as an actor should cover the characterization part. At this point, Jackson can do these roles in his sleep.[/color][/font][/size][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]Falco, far more subdued than everyone else in a very yell-heavy movie, leaves the biggest impression and gives the movie life when she?s onscreen. Falco?s character is what Freedomland should have been based around, not Moore ?s shrieking loon of a mother. Falco has the film?s only great moment, effortlessly shifting a story about her own loss and need for closure back to Brenda. The patience and control Falco has in that scene only reminds me how much I need [i]The Sopranos[/i] back on the air.[/color][/size][/font][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][size=2][font=Arial][color=darkred][i]Freedomland[/i] is so starved to say something grandiose about racial tensions that it neglects being entertaining. When the movie is entertaining, it?s mainly because of the wild, embarrassing overacting and the nonsensical human behavior. At its worst, [i]Freedomland[/i] is offensive to cops and blacks and moviegoers in general with working grey matter, at its best [i]Freedomland[/i] is a muddled, incompetently directed movie that drifts unchallenged toward its expected and welcomed end. Roth should leave directing to people that have a better feel for taking control of actors, material, and editing. For those that said the racially-charged [i]Crash[/i] lacked tact, I invite them to take a trip to [i]Freedomland[/i]. It?s trite, it?s dull, it?s funny when it?s not meant to be, and it?s one of the worst films of 2006.[/color][/font][/size][/font]


    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: D+[/color][/size][/font][/font]
  • barrys
    April 16, 2006
    barrys
    good movie with some parts of suspense, action and adventure.
    it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
    its totally unpredictable because when u think one thing immediately the things happening on the movie makes you think different.
    Great pair of actor , Julianne Moore and Samue... read morel L. Jackson are excellent

View All Freedomland Reviews

Critic Reviews

David Edelstein
May 12, 2006
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Moviemakers who exploit the suffering and death of children to ratchet up the dramatic stakes belong in the innermost circle of hell, but Freedomland -- clumsy and overwrought as it is -- earns the ri... Full Review

Andrew Sarris
February 23, 2006
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

What begins as a familiar kind of media-circus melodrama ends up being something much more complex and tangled. Full Review

Richard Roeper
February 21, 2006
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

A sometimes heavy-handed urban drama punctuated by some devastatingly effective scenes. Full Review

Robert Wilonsky
February 21, 2006
Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice

The performances all around are lousy -- histrionic and turgid, a most lethal combination. Full Review

Liam Lacey
February 17, 2006
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Freedomland is, at best, a noble failure, which leaves the charred aftertaste of a burned opportunity. Full Review

James Berardinelli
February 17, 2006
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The thing that makes Freedomland riveting is the way in which its tale of human tragedy unfolds. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
February 17, 2006
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

What saves Freedomland are the individual scenes and the interplay of people. Full Review

Peter Howell
February 17, 2006
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Freedomland is a good idea that got out of control. Full Review

Roger Moore
February 17, 2006
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Freedomland is so well-acted, so poignantly written, that you can almost forget its excesses and shortcomings and embrace it for what it is -- a serious writer's exploration of racism, cop mob mentali... Full Review

Gene Seymour
February 17, 2006
Gene Seymour, Newsday

Freedomland, the movie, doesn't flow at all. Joe Roth, who as a director makes an excellent producer, tries hard and you can see the effort throughout. Full Review

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Freedomland Trivia

  • Freedomland is based on the Susan Smith case.  Answer »
  • Which actress has starred in all of the following:- - The Fugitive - Far From Heaven - The Big Lebowski - Freedomland - The Hours  Answer »
  • Which actor starred in all of the following:- - Goodfellas - Trees Lounge - The Negotiator - Basic - Freedomland  Answer »
  • In which movie does Samuel L. Jackson have Asthma in?  Answer »
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