Synopsis
A black police detective must solve a strange case of a kidnapped boy and deal with a big racial protest.
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Cast
- Samuel L. JacksonLorenzo Council
- Julianne MooreBrenda Martin
- Edie FalcoKaren Collucci
- Aunjanue Ellis-TaylorFelicia
- William ForsytheBoyle
- Anthony MackieBilly Williams
- Peter FriedmanLt. Gold
- Domenick LombardozziLeo Sullivan
- Aasif MandviDr. Anil Chatterjee
- Philip BoscoPriest
Recommendations
- 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The film is, above all, a moving portrait of hurting souls, brought to life in compelling performances. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Moore doesn't just act. She goes on the attack, embracing the kind of lower-rung-of-the-middle-class role that actresses from Jodie Foster to Meryl Streep have long savored. Her performance is an achievement of sorts, yet, like the movie itself, it's also strenuous and joyless. - 67
Christian Science Monitor
If Freedomland reminds you of Spike Lee's "Clockers," that's not by accident. Like that film, it's adapted by Richard Price from his novel and is set in the neighboring Northern New Jersey communities of Dempsy, predominantly poor and African-American, and the largely white blue-collar suburb of Gannon. - 50
Variety
Despite a few raw moments, pic feels like a Lifetime movie with a marquee cast. - 50
The A.V. Club
Only Edie Falco, appearing as a bereft mother leading a citizen's group that searches for missing children, suggests the great film that Freedomland might have been. - 50
Premiere
Surrounding Council and Moore in this cacophonous, bleak New Jersey are a set of cops, neighbors, and relatives played by actors that the unimaginative Roth yanked directly from various TV gritty crime shows; it's like he thought HBO was his personal casting agent. - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
Individual scenes feel authentic, but the story tries to build bridges between loose ends. - 40
L.A. Weekly
Ordinarily it's kind of hard to screw up a Richard Price story, but the writer is his own worst enemy here, with a screenplay so filled with bromides and object lessons from God, you can't tell what he's trying to say.
