Freedomland

One evening, agent Samuel L. Jackson calls Julianne Moore excitedly and says: "We have a bull's eye here! A super-successful bestseller and we have confirmed Julianne Moore for the lead role. There's no way this can be a failure!" Julianne Moore's experience was similar and the main attraction, of course, was Samuel L. Jackson. However, the original assumptions missed the mark with the result. The only thing that works is S. L. Jackson's charisma, and although Julianne Moore puts tremendous energy into her role as the unhappy mother, it is questionable whether her commitment sometimes goes into overacting. Nevertheless, it is these two who hold the film together, more or less. Joe Roth doesn't have the right sense for this combination of genres, and even though he tries, the film is hardly entertaining at any point and doesn't work according to viewer expectations. The dialogues are slightly longer than they should be, and the editing is in a similar vein. As a thriller, it is predictable, and as a psychological drama, it is shallow and emotionally overdone. As for the racial conflict, we've seen it portrayed more convincingly in dozens of other films. It's not a complete disaster, but it's also not a film that can be recommended. Overall impression: 45%. (09/02/2020)