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Freedomland

Play trailer Poster for Freedomland R Released Feb 17, 2006 1h 53m Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
23% Tomatometer 147 Reviews 25% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings
A mother blames the disappearance of her child on a black man from the projects after she reports a carjacking. A detective (Samuel L. Jackson) suspects the woman is hiding something, and he enlists the aid of a missing-child activist (Edie Falco). While the investigation continues, the media amplifies the case's notoriety, bringing up some tough racial issues.
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Freedomland

Freedomland

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Critics Consensus

Poorly directed and overacted, Freedomland attempts to address sensitive race and class issues but its overzealousness misses the mark.

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Critics Reviews

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Empire Magazine Rated: 2/5 Dec 30, 2006 Full Review Dave Calhoun Time Out This mixed-up, self-important thriller is adapted by Richard Price from his own novel and wastes a talented cast. Jun 24, 2006 Full Review David Edelstein New York Magazine/Vulture 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 right to its harrowing trajectory. May 12, 2006 Full Review Mattie Lucas The Dispatch (Lexington, NC) A weak, tired, cliché-ridden thriller. Rated: 1.5/4 Jun 5, 2019 Full Review Robert Roten Laramie Movie Scope A dazzling performance by Julianne Moore, backed by Samuel L. Jackson. A strong supporting performance by Edie Falco. The story is overwrought and uneven, but those performances had me interested from beginning to end. Rated: B Nov 7, 2010 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Ridiculous Aug 30, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Darla P This movie is busy and unorganized. There are so many different stories going on all at once, it's hard to keep up with the original plot. The cast is strong but even they fall short in this tangled mess of a movie Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/06/24 Full Review jelisije j A movie that could have cut 30 minutes and still send the message they wanted to send. Now the real question what was the actual message of the movie? Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Ethan T Freedomland wastes a tasty pairing of Moore and Jackson on a film littered with so many strange, amateurish errors that one wondered who allowed this mess to occur. For goodness sake, Joe Roth's last directing credit before this was Christmas with the Kranks! The editing in some sections is some of the worst that I have seen in any film. Fade transitions showing the age of the film and at least one egregious slow-motion shot, along with a few random melodramatic sound effects, contribute to a notion that this editor should be allowed nowhere near a film studio again without a serious reappraisal. For goodness sake, he worked on Mission: Impossible? What went wrong?! The most climactic scenes are ruined by their overlong dialogue failing to strike any serious chords of originality. Moore gives her all and almost sells it, but too many of the other characters introduce threads and then fail to elaborate upon them in a manner almost matching The Room in ineptitude. The generous two stars, given the criticism so far, remain because Jackson works dependably well and some of the bleakness of the Price's script and its outlook on racial tensions and police brutality land a few hefty blows suggesting the impossibility of underprivileged communities to ever reach peace with governing forces or the police. After this, though, especially with the unsatisfying and frankly asinine central conflict of child kidnapping, praise runs thin. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/26/21 Full Review Audience Member Decent aim, poor shot. The cast looks solid and the plot sounded interesting but the execution was lacking across the board in this case of squandered potential. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Great cast couldn't do much with this fil. Weaves an unlikely plot from two rather unsavory issues: child abduction and race relations. "Overacting" (Rotten Tomatoes review) is an apt description of the stars performances, with Julianne Moore's role being particularly so: as my attention began to wane toward the end, it seemed there was going to be a scene where she wasn't stuttering and crying, but no, she was on the verge again, was she going to do it!, the tears were coming - but cooler heads prevailed. Fland her character exited the scene. Not only that, but her character takes on this slightly awkward lower-class, white trash, East Coast accent that is not believable. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review steve d I think the writer knew what issues they wanted to tackle and then sold it to the actors. They then forgot they needed a story. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Freedomland

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A mother blames the disappearance of her child on a black man from the projects after she reports a carjacking. A detective (Samuel L. Jackson) suspects the woman is hiding something, and he enlists the aid of a missing-child activist (Edie Falco). While the investigation continues, the media amplifies the case's notoriety, bringing up some tough racial issues.
Director
Joe Roth
Producer
Scott Rudin
Screenwriter
Richard Price
Distributor
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Production Co
Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Rating
R (Some Violent Content|Language)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 17, 2006, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 25, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$12.5M
Runtime
1h 53m
Sound Mix
SDDS, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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