Freedomland

A dreary, meandering mess that utterly wastes some good actors. Julianne Moore plays the strange role of a woman who claims her son has been abducted in a carjacking. Director Joe Roth makes the mystery of her story a total bore to watch, and he isn’t helped by a Moore performance that is easily among her worst. Constantly whining and screaming, the normally entertaining actress is a total task to watch. Based on a novel by Richard Price (who also wrote the screenplay), this movie has nothing that works, and the conclusion feels like a real cheat. Edie Falco is given little to do as a woman who also lost her son, and Ron Eldard, a reliable actor, is given the stereotypical “angry cop” role. The film tries to be a thriller and a grand statement on racial tensions at the same time, succeeding at neither. Samuel L. Jackson does fine in his role, but the movie around him is ridiculous.