Freedomland

With the great Samuel L. Jackson in a commanding role, the usually reliable Julianne Moore, and an intense storyline, we wanted to love this movie. Unfortunately, the overcooked Freedomland never stays grounded long enough for an audience to take a breath. Moore chews the scenery as an unstable woman whose son purportedly disappears and is presumed dead. When she blames an African-American man for the kidnapping, it sparks a racial nightmare that eventually erupts in the streets. But the deeper Jackson investigates, the stranger the case becomes, until the film awkwardly veers between violent action sequences and overwritten monologues. The liberal heart of Hollywood always has been attracted to these kinds of racially charged flicks, and from landmark movies like In the Heat of the Night to this year's Oscar-nominated Crash, they often succeed. Unfortunately, the ultra grim and noisy Freedomland takes a hammer to its subject matter and whacks us over the head with it until we don't care anymore.