I just saw a preview screening of this and was very disappointed. What could have been an insightful journey through a flash point of racial/class hatred turns into an excuse for some major stars to phone in performances - Moore is calling from a different movie altogether. There is no dynamic to the story - Moore behaves like a whacked out crack Mom from the get go - she and Jackson flail through a series of illogical moves till they are stuck in a room together spouting interminable, turgid speeches without much reference to a plot. There's nothing realistic about the sequence of events, Jackson's character appears to be a one man police force who embarks on a missing child case without the help of forensics or psychiatrics. He blunders around with his main witness and prime suspect, crossing and re-crossing the crime scene without actually investigating it, then asking friends to "keep an eye on her" while he attempts to calm down an understandably disgruntled community. Edie Falco brings moments of grace and coherence as the leader of a group of parents who help find missing kids, and finally (finally!) helps uncover the truth about what has happened to the lost boy. At best, confusing, at worst, offensively superficial. And the score is strident and misplaced.
Review of Freedomland
