Synopsis
Following his release from a brutal stretch in prison for crimes he didn't commit, Mo is struggling to adapt to life on the outside. When his world collides with Doris, a mysterious woman with a violent past, he decides to risk his newfound freedom to keep her in his life.
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Cast
- Boyd HolbrookMohamed Lundy
- Elisabeth MossDoris Long
- Octavia SpencerLinda Workman
- Sung KangDetective Shin
- Waleed ZuaiterKhalil
- Stephen Louis GrushJohn Long
- Dane RhodesMarty
- Austin AmelioFrankie
- Vivian Fleming-AlvarezOfficer Alvarez
- Frederick WellerOfficer Ryan
Recommendations
- 67
The Playlist
While there are some missteps in the story, there’s a lot to admire in The Free World, particularly in what is sure to be a breakout role for Holbrook. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
The uneven drama remains reasonably engrossing thanks to affecting performances from Boyd Holbrook and Elisabeth Moss. - 50
Consequence
Animal shelter/prison facility parallels become too heavy-handed, and performances packed with emotion give way to on-the-lam clichés. - 50
The New York Times
The heavy-handed man-beast comparison is one of several grossly overstated themes in a movie that abruptly changes direction as it goes along while taking shortcuts that leave its characters underdeveloped and crucial plot elements barely fleshed out. - 50
Village Voice
Jason Lew's lost-soul drama The Free World offers a modest exploration of innocence and guilt, with occasional interludes of both violence and romance - 50
Los Angeles Times
An initially compelling but uneven drama elevated by two centered performances. - 50
Movie Nation
The film founders when Lew sends the couple, platonic and respectful (he is a Muslim, remember), on the run. That dash rather spoils the picture’s paranoid compactness, and it goes on and on, melodrama added unto melodrama. - 40
Variety
[A] well-meaning, well-acted but otherwise clumsily executed parable about second chances.
