Free Radicals
Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
view
per page
  1. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    30
    At first I thought this was a Michael Haneke knockoff, but it's more depressing and less edifying than most of those narrative experiments, which is why I eventually tuned it out.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. ChadS.
    8
    The ghost in "Free Radicals" is so benign, only a book award committee for genre; like science-fiction, like horror, would acknowledge the supernatural presence as being a part of their literary heritage, even though the storyline is ultimately all-encompassing. "Free Radicals" also wants to be the arthouse "Pretty in Pink". There also seems to be a tip of the cap to Catherine Breillat, "Fat Girl, in particular, when we see the barely legal underdog get it on with the big man on campus. Is it a coincidence that A-ha's "Take on Me" came out the same year as the John Hughes youth classic? I think not. While watching "Free Radicals", I was reminded of psuedo-horror novels like Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" and Stewart O'Nan's "The Night Country", two books with ghosts as its protagonist that are used in a non-horror fashion. If there is a flaw in the script, it's the fact that the boy behind the wheel never seems to acknowledge the crash's second victim, who faced a even more deadly consequence. The filmmaker wants her multiple storylines to brush up against each other, not to intersect, but this reproach of conscience feels a little convoluted.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »