Well, Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trick Baby definitely Went There. Freeway 2 went a lot of places, really. Not always places I wanted to go, but I can’t say the movie didn’t take risks. It truly went to to just so many places.
The lead character of the film is bulimic teenage criminal, Crystal who generally goes by the name White Girl. Crystal is sentenced to a prison rehab facility for eating disorders until she turns 19 at which point she will be sent to maximum security prison. While in the rehab facility, she meets Cyclona, a mentally unstable serial killer. Cyclona and Crystal eventually escape to Mexico, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. In Mexico, Cyclona finds a figure from her childhood, Sister Gomez who she believes can help them not only evade the law but cure Cyclona’s mental illness. But Sister Gomez is not the pure and helpful figure Cyclona believes her to be.
Natasha Lyonne plays the lead in this which makes it difficult to not compare it to the several other times Natasha Lyonne has played queer characters. This isn’t the only or best thing where Natasha Lyonne plays a queer character in a prison setting. It’s not even the best movie from 1999 where Natasha Lyonne plays a queer character. But, it’s also not the worst movie where Natasha Lyonne plays a queer character. She is really good in this film. It’s kind of great to see all this insanity happen around her and Lyonne just be sort of over it. Natasha Lyonne has something special as an actress which allows her to absolutely eviscerate a role like this which she absolutely does in Freeway 2.
So, Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trick Baby is absolutely insane. It’s pure exploitation that I didn’t expect from a movie made in 1999. There’s no interest in anything in the film being in good taste. And that can certainly be problematic. Sister Gomez is a truly terrible representation of a trans woman and characters do reiterate when they find out she has a penis that “she’s a man.” Aside from this, there’s also rampant drug use, attempted rapes, a lot of murder and also a lot of vomit. That last one was my personal least favourite part of the movie.
But honestly, I kind of respect how absolutely batshit Freeway 2 is. The film is never boring nor does it lack for ideas. I’ve seen a lot of exploitation that’s happy exploiting one or two aspects for the length of a film and that can get boring. Freeway 2 is constantly changing to keep shocking its audience. The first act tries to be edgy with depictions of women in prison and lots of vomit. Then, Crystal and Cyclona break out and the shock value instead moves to murder and drug use. And then the third act is like the film’s saying okay, murder is kind of boring now? Fine, fuck it. Witchcraft, sex cults and cannibalism. Freeway 2 is committed to shocking its audience not just a few times but constantly and I do respect that.
What helps is that the directing is pretty good. Regardless of how you feel about the movie, I think its fair to say this movie turned out exactly how the director wanted it. Matthew Bright definitely successfully executed his vision. Sure, his vision is of questionable taste but he committed to it and executed it fairly well. It is shocking, well-paced, well cast and uses music really well. This does put it above lots of other exploitation films which are made by less competent filmmakers with fewer ideas and less clear of a vision.
It also ends up being so over the top that it feels kind of harmless. There’s no way you could take this movie seriously. At the same time, unlike some shock-value movies, this one does feel genuinely punk and counter-cultural. For all its excess, I could see a lot of teen girls who don’t fit in enjoying this movie and I don’t think that’s something to be concerned about. This movie allows female characters to be powerful, grotesque and violent. It’s a unique take on cinematic femininity. There’s perhaps some sort of catharsis in how extreme and insane this movie is while also not being something I can see being in any way actually influential to its viewers.
I can’t fully defend Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trick Baby. It uses bulimia as a punchline , murder as a turn-on and its depiction of a trans woman is truly appalling. But personally, I kind of really enjoyed how off the wall this movie is. It’s certainly never boring and it’s not like anything else I’ve seen. Even in the exploitation subgenre it stands out by being fairly competent and constantly pushing the envelope of insanity. Freeway 2 will not be to everyone’s taste but for all its flaws, I had a great time watching its gritty insanity.
Overall rating: 6.2/10
Other WLW films in similar genres
Murder road trips
Pure and shameless exploitation
I don’t think of sister gomez as a trans woman, but as a man only dressed as a woman for the purpose of his crimes. A man dressing as a woman is not the same as a trans woman. Just food for thought.