Let’s face it: people are still facing dire straits financially. Even recent graduates are having issues finding solid work and unable to sustain themselves in today’s world. There are people who work their butts off and barely make it. And, sometimes, there are those that find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place and have to look for help in an illegal manner. 2014’s Free Ride is such an example.
Set in the 1970’s, we find Christina (True Blood‘s Anna Paquin), a mother of two girls who is in quite the abusive relationship. As with every personal reboot, she makes the choice to leave the abuser and move from Ohio to Florida to start over. However, she meets up with her friend Sandy (Drea de Matteo) and begins a life of crime, moving and holding drugs for “the Bossman”. Her youngest daughter Shell (Jobs Ava Acres) doesn’t understand what’s going on, her oldest daughter MJ (Erased‘s Liana Liberato) knows a bit too much about her mother’s dealings, and Christina? Well, her motivation is to just be able to take care of her girls.
Based on a true story, this film played out as if I was reading a book. A very interesting and involved story playing out before my eyes. Yet, nothing truly happened in the 86 minutes. There’s a hint to a relationship between Christina and one of the drug runners Ray (Easy A‘s Cam Gigandet), there is a car accident that barely scratches the dramatic surface, and everything quickly wraps up at the end like an epilogue of a novel.
The performances were excellent given the script, and the story of a desperate mom needing to take care of her children deeply resonated with me because of my own personal background. However, I felt that there wasn’t anything said in the film that couldn’t be said in a ten minute short film. That’s where I think Free Ride failed itself. The film made me feel like I was supposed to root for the mom. As a viewer, I shouldn’t feel like I’m shoved in a direction for the main character. I was already on her side from the beginning and the main reason for my position is mainly due to Anna Paquin’s amazing performance. It’s the substance in the script that failed this film.
Rating: Although this movie gets a mediocre response to it’s script, I cannot deny the actors their due for taking a flat script and making this an intriguing film to view (6.5/10).
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