Rating: R | Runtime: 106 minutes
Release Date: April 4th, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Lionsgate
Director(s): Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden
Writer(s): Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden

Oh, yeah. Well, that is a fun fact.

On May 10, 1987, Eric “Sleepy” Floyd put the Golden State Warriors on his back and scored a record twenty-nine points in the fourth quarter to cap a fifty-one-point performance that helped stave off a Los Angeles Lakers sweep. His team would ultimately lose the next game and the series, but the legend of that night still lives on. So much so that filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden decided to make a film about it. Rather than go the straightforward Sugar route, however, the duo decided to follow-up their big-budget MCU foray Captain Marvel with a timely grindhouse anthology romp pitting the underdogs of the Bay Area against a band of Nazis itching to have their heads exploded Scanners-style.

The result is the extremely entertaining Freaky Tales narrated by Oakland’s own Too $hort. Think of the rapper as a repository of urban myths surrounding that specific NBA playoff run. He gives us the “facts” while also sprinkling in what he’s “heard” to cut through the speculation and breathe life into Fleck and Boden’s wildly violent homage to an era and area close to their hearts (Fleck used his memories growing up in Oakland as a road map). Because it isn’t just Too $hort (DeMario “Symba” Driver) and Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis) who show up. There’s also Danger Zone rappers Entice (Normani) and Barbie (Dominique Thorne). Settings like punk venue 924 Gilman, multiplex Grand Lake Theater, and ice cream parlor Loards. And a literal list of name-checked Warriors players.

Chapter One takes us to the Gilman and centers on friends Tina (Ji-young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion) as their love of counterculture and hate for Nazis gradually allows love to blossom. Chapter Two follows Entice and Barbie as they deal with racist cops like Ben Mendelsohn and hope to land their big break via a rap battle versus $hort. Chapter Three centers mob heavy Clint (Pedro Pascal) on his last tragic day on the job now that his own debt is finally paid off. And Chapter Four finally lets Floyd shine both on the court and off it as an Asian art aficionado with a distinct focus on weaponry. Each is connected in minimal ways (with some characters seen in multiple parts) to maintain a narrative through-line that complements the thematic use of green energy harnessed by Psytopics.

What is Psytopics? It doesn’t really matter. More a catch-all name to explain some of the insane stuff that happens than a fleshed-out self-help, infomercial-esque program crucial to the plot, it’s almost just a brand name for the vibe of 1980s Oakland. Characters talk about signing up for a class, but only Floyd actually makes mention of having taken one (his own mind-over-matter faux seminar is apparently sponsored by the company). So, when Entice’s microphone glows green, it’s not because she’s wielding the power of something she was taught. It’s more innate. She finds her inner strength and it simply manifests with that Psytopic glow for the audience. Same with the green lightning. It’s like Oakland is being supercharged to battle evil.

There’s a lot of evil to combat when you have a gang of white supremacists trolling for minorities to torture. Can the Gilman crew band together and take the war to their abusers? Can Entice allow herself to believe someone might truly be trying to help when it seems like the entire world is out to get her? What about Clint desperately looking to shed the fact that he’s killed people for his employer? Can he turn the page and escape a fate he used to dole out? They’re all looking to tap into what Sleepy Floyd has already harnessed, but basketball heroics are no match for real-world heartache. Can he channel his rage into a climactic and cathartic slaughter of his enemies?

The “kids’” would-be disenfranchised victims rising up are a great entry point before being entrenched in the more tragic underpinnings of adult life. It’s fun to see a bunch of punks lay waste to skinheads and empowering to watch Danger Zone turn an audience who paid to watch Too $hort over to their side (while earning his respect). Fleck and Boden build us up with excitement so we can sustain that energy through Clint’s more sobering affair (complete with its own comic jumpstart via a cameo you can guess coming considering how often he’s mentioned without being mentioned). And then they release that dread with one last bloody release wherein Ellis’ goofy grin pairs with a steely resolve to ensure we head home smiling.

Pascal is the straight man as a result. He harbors no illusions as far as what he’s dealing with and how much leeway he has to exit the other side. While his Clint has a job and the determination to complete it, however, he still has the humor to let everyone around him finish their shtick. Seeing him get invested in a topic we know he couldn’t care less about only makes the joke better. It’s the complete opposite with Mendelsohn. He’s chewing up every second of scenery and having an absolute blast. From the smarmy racism to the sarcastic impatience (mostly targeting a deadpan Angus Cloud, whose death in 2023 shows how long Freaky Tales has taken to get released), his caricature of evil shows the inherent confidence of unearned privilege. His comeuppance is an absolute delight.

Oh. And the cameo wasn’t wrong. Breaking Away is pretty great.

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Pedro Pascal in FREAKY TALES; courtesy of Lionsgate.