Opening credits - Hey, it's little red riding hood (music by Danny Elfman)... wonder if this has something to do with the movie?
Reese Witherspoon (Fear) is Vanessa, a teenage girl whose had more than her share of troubles... she can't read very well, she's been arrested a couple of times, her mom's a hooker, and her step-dad molests her. When the police come and arrest her mom (again) for soliciting prostitution, and arrest her step-dad for drug posession, Vanessa steals her social worker's car and heads out on the Freeway towards her grandmother's house. Of course the car's a piece of crap and it breaks down, but a kind stranger, Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland) helps her out and offers her a ride as far as Los Angeles. Bob says he's a counsiller for young boys at a correctional facility, and starts asking Vanessa about her personal life, saying that it's often easier to tell your problems to a stranger.
Of course, Bob turns out to be the serial freeway rapist they talk about on the news, and tries to assault Vanessa... but she's got a short fuse. She whips out her gun and demands that Bob pull over. He does and she shoots him. But Bob survives, and Vanessa is arrested, sent to juvanile (where she gets in a fight no longer than 10 minutes of being there), tried, sentenced, then transported - all the while 2 detectives (one being Nick Tortelli) struggle to find the truth. Is Bob really the malicious rapist Vanessa claims he is, or is she just a messed up girl with a short temper? (It's both).
During the transportation process however, Vanessa and the 3 other girls she is with escape. She gets hooked up with a car and a gun, and resumes her travel to grandma's house. Bob, horribly scarred from the shooting, is now is a public figure because of Vanessa's trial. Unfortunately the two detectives find out that he is really the rapist, and he flees... off to Grandma's house.... you can see where this goes.
Freeway is full of surprises, at times you think it will be a total Lone Star-type drama, at others a talkie independent film, and still at other an intense suspense-thriller. But it continues on to being a dark comedy, a parody of the Little Red Riding Hood fable, a mystery and still more.... You really never know what's going to happen. Unless you read the summary above, which pretty much tells you everything... hmm, maybe I should have put a disclaimer up there. Oh well.
Sutherland has a great, truly eccentric, double-faced role. Witherspoon is also very good at playing stupid, sweet, and violent all in the same character. The two detectives are a large source of the comedy in this film which never takes itself too seriously. I loved it. Highly recommended.