Freak City Reviews

When her grandmother and guardian dies, MS sufferer Ruth (Samantha Mathis) is swiftly deposited in a private healthcare facility by relatives with power of attorney. The fact that it's nicknamed "Freak City" does little to assuage the chip on Ruth's shoulder as she breaks bread with the physically and mentally challenged individuals who surround her. Eventually, however, she befriends a blind boy, Lenny (Jonathan Silverman), and develops a crush on car crash victim Cal (Peter Sarsgaard). As she eschews bitterness and self-pity for maturity, Ruth bonds with her retarded roommate Cassie (Marlee Matlin), who experiences prejudice from her peers for not sticking with her own kind. She also encourages Lenny to cut the apron strings to his possessive mother and builds the confidence of brain-damaged singer Eleanor (Natalie Cole). Because she looked to paraplegic Cal as a role model, Ruth is devastated when he opts for suicide. Will her own dark emotions resurface and become her undoing? Or can all her problems be solved if she can legally secure release from Freak City? Who cares? It's hard to comprehend that Lynne Littman, who previously directed the distinguished drama TESTAMENT, is responsible for this wretched drivel. Annoyingly sincere and offensively manipulative, it features the kind of blatant writing in which allowing cripples to use foul language is viewed as a sign of honesty. In a film that's chock-full of cloying performances and affected mannerisms, the unquestionable nadir arrives when Cole's character sings again, in a scene that's almost as hilariously awful as Tony the crooner's asylum comeback in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.