Amanda Plummer Movies
The daughter of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer and American stage actress Tammy Grimes, Amanda Plummer grew up on the East Coast with a love of horseback riding and literature. After studying at Middlebury College and the Neighborhood Playhouse, she settled into an acting company in Massachusetts. Plummer made her film debut in the 1981 Western Cattle Annie and Little Britches opposite Burt Lancaster. Working on Broadway, she won the Tony and the Drama Desk award for her performance as Agnes in the 1982 stage production of Agnes of God. She lost the role in the film version to Meg Tilly and stayed in the theater. Some of her stage credits include The Glass Menagerie, You Never Can Tell, and A Taste of Honey. She earned another Tony nomination for her performance in Pygmalion, opposite Peter O'Toole. On television, she earned an Emmy nomination for her recurring role of mentally challenged Alice on L.A. Law.Plummer's feature film work would consist of playing small, fragile, almost invisible characters who nevertheless leave a big impression. On the big screen, Plummer displayed her silent intensity in the non-speaking role of Ellen James in The World According to Garp (1982). She also created the interesting, if little-seen, character of Dagmar in John Patrick Shanley's Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). Her big film breakthrough came about in 1991 in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King. She played awkward and plain office worker Lydia Sinclair, who inspires the love of a homeless man played by Robin Williams. The next year, she earned her first Emmy award for her role of concentration camp survivor Lusia Weiss in the post-war drama Miss Rose White (1992), a made-for-TV adaptation of an off-Broadway play. In feature films during the late '90s, Plummer often played slightly off-kilter women just on the verge of violent behavior. She was a disturbed sister in So I Married an Axe Murderer and an semi-balanced Castle Rock resident in Needful Things (both 1993). In 1994, she played a partner-in-crime with Tim Roth in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. As the gun-pointing Honey Bunny, Plummer gained a lot of exposure with a minimum of screen time. The next year, she played a serial killer in Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss (1995).
Returning to television, Plummer earned another Emmy for the role of Professor Theresa Given in a 1996 episode of Showtime's The Outer Limits. For the rest of the '90s, she continued portraying delicately damaged characters in small independent films like Matthew Bright's Freeway (1996) and Peter Cohn's Drunks (1997). She also appeared in the family film A Simple Wish (1997) and lent her voice to the TV series Stories From My Childhood as well as the animated feature Hercules (1997). In 1999, Plummer revisited her earlier days as a horseback rider to play a member of the title harem in Peter Greenaway's bizarre 8 1/2 Women (1999). In 2003, she played Sarah Polley's food-obsessed co-worker in My Life Without Me. Plummer's projects for 2004 included the horror film Satan's Little Helper and Tobe Hooper's Brew. And while the majority of films Plummer appeared in throughout the early 2000s were generally unremarkable, the veteran actress did make headlines when it was announced that she would play the role of Wiress, a key ally of Katniss Everdeen, in the highly anticipated sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
A guy thinks that money can get him the girl of his dreams, though the characters set this familiar scenario apart in this independent drama. Evan (Evan Sneider) is a man in his mid-twenties who has a steady job at a restaurant and lives with his mother, Celeste (Amanda Plummer). Evan also has Down's syndrome, and while he's high-functioning and can look after himself, he has a close bond with his mother and Celeste is fiercely protective of her son. Evan's life takes a dramatic turn when Celeste dies unexpectedly, and as part of the insurance settlement, Evan is handed 15,000 dollars in cash. Ever since he was a teenager, Evan has been deeply infatuated with Candy (Shannon Woodward), whose life has been difficult since high school -- she's been stuck in an abusive relationship with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Russ (Jackson Rathbone), who is powerfully jealous even though he can't be bothered to help support their young son, and Candy has trouble holding down a job. When Candy is about to be evicted from her home, Evan gives her a thousand dollars to pay off the bills. Candy is well aware of Evan's feelings for her, and out of confused gratitude she ends up sleeping with him, which adds to the considerable tension between her and Russ, while Russ tries to win Evan's trust in hopes of finding out how many other lovers are in Candy's life. Girlfriend was the first feature film from writer and director Justin Lerner, and received its world premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward, (more)
After his 14-year-old dog, Red, is senselessly murdered by three thrill-seeking teenagers, an aging recluse sets out seeking justice for his four-legged companion and finds himself gradually pushed to take extreme measures. Brian Cox and Tom Sizemore star in this adaptation of the Jack Ketchum novel scripted by Stephen Susco, and co-directed by Trygve Allister Diesen and Lucky McKee. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Cox, Noel Fisher, (more)
- 2008
A physician who helps his clients bring new life into the world is accused of an ethical breach that's also criminal in this independent drama. Dr. Freeman (Colm Feore) is a doctor who runs an upscale fertility clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada. Freeman specializes in helping women who have had trouble getting pregnant conceive, usually through artificial insemination techniques or transplanting donated eggs into his patients. Over the course of several weeks, Freeman inseminates nine women from different walks of life, ranging from middle-aged but newly married Lottie (Andie MacDowell) and a lesbian whose reproductive clock is ticking, Elsa (Donna D'Errico) to Frances (Geraldine Chaplin), an aging socialite who needs a son to inherit her husband's fortune and sassy, outspoken Salome (Jennifer Tilly). Of these nine women, eight become pregnant and give birth to healthy children, but when the new mothers compare notes, they discover their children bear a striking resemblance to one another. When journalist Tallulah (Elizabeth McGovern) looks into their story, they begin to suspect that Freeman used his own sperm to fertilize his patients rather than the donor samples they selected, a breach of conduct that lands the doctor in court. Inconceivable also stars Kerry Fox, Amanda Plummer and Colin Mochrie; Geraldine Chaplin's daughter Oona Chaplin co-stars as Frances's grown daughter. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Colm Feore, Jennifer Tilly, (more)
- 2006
Part one of the two-part story arc "Exodus" gets underway as Sharon and her crew successfully deflect a surprise attack by the Cylons and Tyrol stages a daring mission to rescue a group of suspected insurgents from the Cylon firing squad. While these two events indeed provide the human population with a newfound sense of hope, uncertainty lingers over human and android alike as President Baltar hears his Cylon overlords pondering the prospect of simply nuking the colony and abandoning plans to live peacefully with humans. Meanwhile, as the insurgents learn of Ellen Tigh's complicity with the Cylons, Kara Thrace embraces her new role as a mother and Cylon D'Anna becomes convinced that her child is still alive. Back on the Galactica, everyone says their goodbyes as Admiral Adama prepares for his dangerous rescue mission to New Caprica. Should the insurgents on New Caprica prove successful in their plans to launch a massive attack in tandem with the rescue mission, perhaps the crews of the Galactica and the Pegasus will be able to meet up and celebrate their success as planned. But in order for the mission to truly succeed, Sharon must first mix among the Cylons in a daring bid to obtain the launch keys for the grounded Colonial ships that will carry the humans to safety. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amanda Plummer
- 2004
Mary Stuart Masterson makes the first of three appearances as psychologist Rebecca Hendrix, whom exacutive producer Fred Wolf had brought in as a temporary replacement while series regular B.D. Wong (Dr. Huang) was appearing in the Broadway musical "Pacific Overtures." Dr. Hendrix joins the SVU team to track down rapist Thomas Mathers (Dallas Roberts), who targets mentally or physically disabled women. Mathers' most recent victim is Hendrix's patient Miranda Cole (an Emmy-winning portrayal by Amanda Plummer). Unfortuanately, Miranda's schizophrenia, coupled with a plethora of contradictory evidence, may well allow Mathers to slip through the fingers of the authorities--and the fact that Hendrix and Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) absolutely cannot agree on anything further complicates matters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Jeff Lieberman, celebrated by horror film buffs for his imaginative cult favorites Squirm and Blue Sunshine, returns to filmmaking with this offbeat shocker. It's late October, and Douglas (Alexander Brickel), like most nine-year-olds, is looking forward to Halloween, especially trick or treating. Doug's mother (Amanda Plummer) has made him a costume based on a character from his favorite video game, Satan's Little Helper, and his big sister Jenna (Katheryn Winnick) will be home from college to collect candy with him. But Douglas is angry when Jenna's new boyfriend, Alex (Stephen Graham), tags along, and he soon ditches his sister to go trick or treating alone. While making the rounds, Douglas happens upon a serial killer (Joshua Annex) dressed up like a monster from his video game; Douglas admires the killer's grisly handiwork, and offers to act as his assistant, just like in the game. First Douglas leads the maniac to Alex, whom he soon kills, and then he brings him home, where Jenna and Mom think the masked killer is just Alex in his Halloween costume. Shot on digital video, Satan's Little Helper was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amanda Plummer, Alexander Brickel, (more)
Isabel Coixet's Mi vida sin mi (My Life Without Me) is a tale of a woman dying before her time. Sarah Polley plays Ann, a 24-year-old mother of two. Ann is married to Don (Scott Speedman), and they live near Ann's mother (Deborah Harry), who is bitter about the fact that Ann's father is serving a ten-year prison sentence. Ann learns that she has only a few months to live. She makes a series of goals to complete before her time on Earth comes to an end. Among her accomplishments are taking a lover (Mark Ruffalo), finding someone to care for Don, and recording birthday greetings for her two daughters. My Life Without Me was screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, (more)
- 2003
While pursuing a story in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1994, Italian investigative reporter Ilaria Alpi and her cameraman Miran Hrovatin were brutally murdered for uncovering what was later discovered to be one of the largest governmental corruption scandals in European history. Director Ferdinando Vincentini Orgnani retells the journalists' final month prior to their murder in his 2003 drama Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni (The Cruelest Day). The younger and more career-driven Alpi (portrayed by Giovanna Mezzogiorno) has been incessantly investigating the money that Italian humanitarian organizations have been donating to Third World countries under the auspices of building roads and generally improving the beneficiary countries' infrastructure. Meeting Hrovatin (Rade Sherbedgia) after beginning her investigation, the two uncover the shocking truth: These "humanitarian organizations" are actually fronts for secret Italian governmental agencies who are shipping tons of toxic waste to these countries for surreptitious disposal. Just as Alpi and Hrovatin begin to dig deeper into their story, they are ambushed and killed -- but not before the truth had been revealed to an unsuspecting European populace. Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni was selected for inclusion into the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Rade Sherbedgia, (more)
- 2002
Directed by Josh Rofé, The Gray In Between centers around Cully (Rofé), a mischievous teen whose exploits are suddenly curtailed after being shot in the back. Permanently paralyzed and deeply depressed, the now wheelchair-bound Cully finds solace in Julie (Natasha Gregson Wagner), an older friend who agrees to take him in. The Gray In Between also features Billy Kay, Kyle Sabihy, and Amanda Plummer. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Josh Rofé, Amanda Plummer, (more)
- 2002
Filmmaker Larry Clark reunites with Kids screenwriter Harmony Korine, with some additional directorial assistance from cinematographer Ed Lachman, for this look at a group of troubled teens and their guardians living in Southern California. The film opens at a skate park, where a troubled character takes his own life; it then proceeds to chronicle the somewhat-interrelated lives of his classmates. The audience is introduced to Tate (James Ransome), a young man living in relative misery with his board-game-playing grandparents. Also tormented by his living situation is Claude (Stephen Jasso), a quiet, shy teen constantly henpecked by his brutish father (Wade Andrew Williams). Meanwhile, the vapid Shawn (James Bullard) occasionally trades verbal spars with his mother, in between leaving the house for sex sessions with his girlfriend's mom. Finally there is Peaches (Tiffany Limos), living alone with her devoutly religious father as she covertly experiments with her boyfriend (Mike Apaletegui). Though Ken Park played at such festivals as Toronto and Telluride in the fall of 2002, it would languish on the shelf for months and months afterward, as its explicit content made finding a U.S. distributor near-impossible. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Ransome, Tiffany Limos, (more)
John Bradshaw's crime comedy Triggermen begins when a pair of professional killers (Michael Rapaport and Donnie Wahlberg) are hired to execute one of the major figures in organized crime (Pete Postlethwaite). Soon the pair are mistaken with a pair of British conmen (Neil Morrissey and Adrian Dunbar). When the money they were promised for completing the task turns up missing, the duo has a remarkably difficult time tracking it down. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Neil Morrissey, Donnie Wahlberg, (more)
Legendary filmmaker Wim Wenders returns to the screen with this loosely structured murder mystery. The Million Dollar Hotel unites Wender's obsession with cool music, lost souls, and American trash culture. Set in 2001, the film opens with Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies) taking a flying leap off the roof of the Million Dollar Hotel, an ironically titled dive in the seedy section of L.A. Told in an extended flashback, Tom Tom recounts the murder investigation of a down-and-out artist and son of a media mogul, Izzy Goldkiss (Tim Roth), who also fell off the hotel. FBI special agent Skinner (none other than Mel Gibson), sporting a neck brace, looks into the death only to discover that the building is teeming with weirdos and losers. There is Vivien (Amanda Plummer), who claims to be the fiancée of the rock star; Geronimo (Jimmy Smits), a huckster trying to make a buck by selling Izzy's abstract painting; Eloise (Milla Jovovich), a burned out prostitute with a passion for intellectual literature; and Dixie (Peter Stormare), who swears up and down that he is the fifth Beatle. As the film progresses, Skinner proves to be just as much of a freak as the hotel tenets -- he was born with a third arm that was surgically removed from his back. Just as in his Until the End of the World (1991), Wenders features a fantastic soundtrack including songs from Bono, Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno. The Million Dollar Hotel opened the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, (more)
In 1976 a group of English villagers led by cop Carl (Nick Brimble) journey to a remote house where they discover a traumatized man and the corpse of his wife. Twenty-three years later, the remote house is home to Martin (Sean Pertwee), a burned-out novelist, and his American wife Ellen (Amanda Plummer), who have settled there following the freak death of their young son. Faster than you can say "Heeere's Johnny!" weird things start to happen: Ellen becomes convinced that she's going to die, while Martin's behavior is increasingly erratic and combative. Ellen decides to solve the mystery of her lodgings, which locals insist is located on a primeval bog with a somewhat unpalatable history. Although set in England, this film was actually shot in the Czech Republic. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amanda Plummer, Sean Pertwee, (more)
From Peter Greenaway, one of Britain's most controversial directors, 8 1/2 Women is a laconic black comedy that examines the age-old phenomenon of male sexual fantasy, its roots and consequences. A rich businessman from Geneva acquires eight and a half pachinko parlors in Kyoto, Japan. They are run by his son who is fascinated by earthquakes. When the father's beloved wife dies, the son takes him to see Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2 to distract him from his grief and rekindle some interest in the opposite sex. Inspired by Fellini's vision, they bring eight and a half women from Japan and Europe and turn the father's Geneva mansion into a private harem. Amanda Plummer, Toni Collette, Polly Walker and Vivian Wu (the protagonist of Greenaway's previous film The Pillow Book), head the cast of this multi-layered film that failed to reach the degree of critical acclaim of Greenaway's previous works. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Standing, Matthew Delamere, (more)
In this offbeat drama, a group of people who have nothing in common are having breakfast at the same diner, with Denise the waitress (Amanda Plummer) serving them coffee. As we view the unrelated strands of their lives, the patrons are suddenly and dramatically brought together when a lunatic with a gun opens fire on the diner, as a SWAT team attempts to bring him down and restore order while protecting the lives of the people inside. October 22 also features Colm Meaney, Ernie Hudson Richard Schenkman, and Tate Donovan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Mika Kaurismaki directed this British-French-Finnish romantic comedy adapted from Richard Rayner's autobiographical novel about a series of Hollywood misadventures. Vacationing in the North of England, aspiring Los Angeles actress Barbara (Vinessa Shaw) stops briefly in a village where she meets town undertaker and obit writer Richard (David Tennant) -- who just can't stop thinking about her. Flying to California, Richard arrives at the Japanese restaurant where Barbara is a waitress, and a relationship begins -- while Richard learns about Hollywood at the hands of various hustlers and agents. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, (more)
Shimon Dotan directed this Canadian comedy-drama from Oren Safdie's screenplay based on Safdie's play, Hyper-Allergenic, set in a hospital room where a dysfunctional family awaits the results of surgery. Shirley Cooperberg (Ellen Burstyn) heads a Montreal Jewish family, and during her husband's operation, her brood arrives at the hospital -- failed writer Eli (Ted Levine), neurotic Susan (Amanda Plummer), and successful theatrical producer Edward (Mark Blum). Edward's wife Linda (Macha Grenon) is also present, as is Eli's ex, Diane (Mary McDonnell). An onslaught of one-liners find targets amid sibling rivalries and angst-ridden animosities. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Amanda Plummer, (more)
- 1997
Dutch cult filmmaker Rene Daalder (Massacre at Central High, Habitat) directed this surreal tale of thought-control experiments on the inmates of an insane asylum. Like his other films, Hysteria is a rich and thematically dense sociopolitical allegory, but this time around the concept is overwhelmed by a particularly risible execution. Patrick McGoohan stars as Dr. Harvey Langston, a mad genius who spouts twisted philosophical nonsense while conducting experiments in universal consciousness and group thought. His latest guinea pig is Veronica (Emmanuelle Vaugier), who hallucinates ants all over her body and attempts to stab her doctor (Michael Maloney) in the eye with a corkscrew. Langston implants a computer chip in Veronica's head, and she enters the group consciousness of a contrived assembly of patients including a mannish Tourette's sufferer who speaks in rhyme, a musician who has separate identities in each of his arms, and Amanda Plummer as a wheelchair-bound dancer. Plummer has the film's most memorable scene, spinning about in her chair as the asylum's inmates copulate in every possible combination for the orgiastic finale. Whether the entire escapade is a dangerous cult or a radical new model for a communal civilization (as in the similarly offbeat Phase IV) is open to interpretation, but most of the time the events onscreen are too laughable for it to really matter. Daalder's unique vision walks a very thin line, and he is capable of taking outrageous concepts and making them believable (as in Habitat), but this time he misses the mark by a mile. Nevertheless, McGoohan does his best and the film is still worth watching, for even if it is a failure (and it is), it's at least an interesting one. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patrick McGoohan, Amanda Plummer, (more)
An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting brings together a disparate group of people struggling with addiction to drugs and liquor in this film based on Gary Lennon's play "Blackout." Jim (Richard Lewis) is in a bad mood as he sits in on an AA meeting in the basement of a church in New York City; he's prodded into speaking in front of the group for the first time in seven months, and he confesses that he desperately wants to get drunk. Three years before, Jim gave up a decade of dependence on booze and heroin for the sake of his wife, who has just died unexpectedly of an aneurysm, and before long, Jim runs out in search of a bottle. Meanwhile, the other members of the group share their own stories about their problems with substance abuse, including Rachel (Dianne Wiest), a physician who tries to uses her job to fill the void in her life left by the departure of her husband and son; Joseph (Howard Rollins), whose drunk driving put his five-year-old son in the hospital; Debbie (Parker Posey), a young woman who wishes she could have been Janis Joplin; Shelly (Amanda Plummer), whose force of will is being tested by an upcoming visit from her mother; Becky (Faye Dunnaway), a divorcee who is not sure how she'll handle losing custody of her child; Brenda (Lisa Gay Hamilton), an HIV-positive former junkie who was stealing syringes from her diabetic mother; and Louis (Spalding Gray), who is actually looking for the choir practice at the church; he then goes into a rhapsodic ode to the pleasures of beer which suggests that he has his own problems with the bottle. Drunks was the first feature film for director/producer Peter Cohn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Lewis, Faye Dunaway, (more)
In this noir-influenced road movie, Jake (Robert Forster) is a criminal psychiatrist who has come to the conclusion that our lives are dictated primarily by chance, and has given himself over to this notion by making most of his decision by the flip of a coin. Sandra (Amanda Plummer) is a neurotic woman on her way to pick up her younger sister, a teenage delinquent named Alice (Fairuza Balk) when she's run off the road and left stranded by a madman named Santini (David Thewlis). When Jake happens by and Sandra asks him for help, Sandra is lucky at first: she wins the coin toss, and he elects to help her rather than kill her. When they have to make a stop, Sandra sees Santini's car parked by the side of the road; Santini catches Sandra as she tries to rip off some money that he's stashed in the car, and though she gets away, Santini isn't done with her yet. Director Paul Chart probably didn't have much trouble securing Amanda Plummer for the role of Alice: Chart and Plummer were married in 1994. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Disney's animation team dipped into the rich well of ancient mythology for this musical comedy. The son of Greek gods Zeus (voice of Rip Torn) and Hera (Samantha Eggar), Hercules (voice of Josh Keaton) is stolen as a boy by the minions of Hades (voice of James Woods), lord of the underworld. Forced to live among humans, Hercules is turned into a half-god and half-mortal after drinking a forbidden potion brewed by Hades' right hand men, Pain (voice of Bob Goldthwait) and Panic (voice of Matt Frewer). Now Hercules has the remarkable strength of a god, but is trapped in the body of a human, and before he learns how to use his power properly he goes through a typically adolescent awkward period. In order to become a god and return to his home on Mount Olympus, Hercules must prove himself a true hero on Earth. With the assistance of Philotes (voice of Danny De Vito), a plucky satyr known as "Phil," the grown-up Hercules (voice of Tate Donovan) learns to use his strength to his advantage and becomes a famous and benevolent protector of those around him, successfully battling a variety of gods and monsters. However, Hades, wanting to cut Hercules down to size, sends his secret weapon after him -- Megara (voice of Susan Egan), a seductively beautiful woman under Hades' control, who is to win Hercules' heart and render him helpless against the forces of the underworld. Acclaimed British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe served as production designer for this project, while Alan Menken wrote the musical score. Incidentally, for the Spanish language version of the film, Latin pop singer Ricky Martin provided the singing voice of Hercules, two years before he became a chart-topping sensation in America with his hit single "Livin' la Vida Loca." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tate Donovan, Josh Keaton, (more)
This comic children's fantasy from director Michael Ritchie stars Mara Wilson as eight-year-old New Yorker Anabel, who wishes that her father Oliver (Robert Pastorelli), a hansom cab driver in Central Park, would see his dream come true. In a thinly veiled jab at the overblown stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Oliver aspires to be cast in the lead role in a new big-budget musical based on A Tale of Two Cities. Anabel's wish is received by Murray (Martin Short), the very first male fairy godmother, a bumbler who predictably botches the spell fulfilling Anabel's wish, turning Oliver into a statue instead. In order to reverse the mistake, Murray needs help from his union, the North American Fairy Godmothers Association (NAFGA), which is holding a convention in Manhattan. Enter Claudia (Kathleen Turner), a scheming former fairy godmother turned witch, who steals the attendees' magic wands, intending to use their magic in a bid for power. A Simple Wish (1997) was one of four films representing the initial slate of The Bubble Factory, a movie production house assembled by the theater world's Sheinberg family. Their other films were The Pest (1997), McHale's Navy (1997), and For Richer or Poorer (1997). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Short, Mara Wilson, (more)
In this postmodern exploitation flick loosely based on "Little Red Riding Hood," the uneducated daughter of a drug-addicted prostitute flees the foster-care system in search of her long-lost grandmother but meets up instead with a serial killer. Vanessa (Reese Witherspoon), a nearly illiterate firebug and serial shoplifter, desperately clings to normalcy even though her mother turns tricks, does drugs, and manages to ignore the fact that the girl's stepfather Michael T. Weiss has been abusing her for years. When both of her parents get arrested, Vanessa steals the car of her family-services caseworker (Conchata Ferrell) and heads up Interstate 5 in search of her paternal grandmother, who's never met her. Car problems force her to accept a ride from Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a youth counselor who uses charm and sympathy to get the girl to open up. Confessing the sordid details of her childhood to Bob, Vanessa is shocked when he suddenly declares that she's one of the "garbage people" and that he plans to murder her and have sex with her corpse. Bob, it turns out, is the "I-5 Murderer," who's been slaughtering young prostitutes in the Los Angeles area. Thanks to a gun borrowed from her fiancé, Vanessa manages to turn the tables on Bob, shooting him repeatedly and leaving him for dead. He survives, Vanessa is arrested, and the two meet up again in court -- with her unrepentant, even though the police disbelieve her story, him flanked by his prim wife (Brooke Shields) and the righteous indignation of the American legal system. Locked up in the juvie for psychological evaluation, Vanessa gets in touch with her wild side and eventually escapes, heading off to her fateful meeting with grandma. Although Freeway was originally filmed for HBO, vigorously positive critical response eventually earned it a theatrical release. Alanna Ubach, who portrays Vanessa's nemesis/accomplice Mesquita, would go on to appear with Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Freeway also features two Clueless alumni: Dan Hedaya, as a police detective, and Brittany Murphy, as the disfigured lesbian who befriends Vanessa in lock-up. Michael T. Weiss, who previously appeared in gay indie Jeffrey, appears in both Freeway and its sequel, Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
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