Movielogr

Rating: 1.5 stars

All movies seen on 02/11/2002

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Crossroads (2002)

Directed by Tamra Davis

Drama

Overview

After eight years apart, three childhood friends - Lucy, Kit, and Mimi - rediscover their friendship on a cross-country trip. With barely a plan, practically no money but plenty of dreams, the girls catch a lift with Mimi’s handsome friend Ben in his convertible. Along the way they not only gather experiences that will change their lives, but they also discover how important it is to hold onto their hearts’ desires.

Rated PG-13 | Length 93 minutes

Actors

Britney Spears | Zoe Saldana | Taryn Manning | Anson Mount | Dan Aykroyd | Kim Cattrall | Justin Long | Beverly Johnson | Bahni Turpin | Kool Moe Dee | Richard Voll | Katherine Boecher | Dave Allen | Kyle Davis | Branden Williams | Celina Belizan | Shonda Farr | Jaret Reddick | Christopher Van Malmsteen | Erik Rodham Clinton | Gary Wiseass | Ritchie Montgomery | Brandon Henschel | Janet May | Seth Romatelli | Jesse Camp | Jamie Lynn Spears | Dajine Colon | Crystal Milton | Cullen G. Chambers | Carl Conti | Nick Pellegrino

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Ed. Note - This was originally posted for ZENtertainment.com. It received 770 hits as of November 28, 2003.

CROSSROADS Doesn’t Know Which Way To Go
The road trip is a classic narrative American theme.  In many ways it parallels a classic theme: the hero’s journey.  Along the way, the hero, or a heroine in this case, should encounter various trials that prepare him for that final battle and build his character.  And so it is with pop singer Britney Spears’ new film, CROSSROADS.

Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Lucy, Mimi, and Kit, three young best friends, bury a box with objects representing wishes inside and vow to remain friends forever.  They plan to dig the box up on the night of their highschool graduation.  Flash forward some years later and graduation has come.  In a case where fiction is seemingly stranger than truth, Lucy (Spears) is valedictorian of her highschool graduating class.  Despite looking like a model, she is very unpopular with the “in” crowd.  Her boyfriend is her long time plaid-wearing lab partner, Henry (Long).  Kit (Saldana) has become one of Lucy’s chief detractors and is now the most popular girl in school.  Mimi, a Fairuza Balk look-alike, is pregnant and loves to wear Boy Scouts shirts.  All three are at odds with each other to a degree and have grown apart.  Despite their best efforts not to, the three meet at midnight on the night of graduation to dig up the box.  The objects inside bring back a flood of memories and feelings and they open up to each other a bit.

Mimi lets Lucy and Kit know that she is planning to move to LA to try out for a recording contract and she wants them to go with her.  Lucy and Kit, despite saying no at first, show up on Sunday morning to make the trip with Mimi and her mysterious friend Ben.  Lucy is only planning to stay on until Arizona so that she can see her mother that she hasn’t seen since she was 3 and Kit is only going so that she can see her boyfriend at UCLA.  The movie follows their adventure from Georgia to California to try out for the recording contract as they all discover new truths about perceived relationships.

I have to give Britney props - she really wasn’t a bad actress and she showed a genuine wide range of emotions.  However, the film would have been better if there was better material to work with. CROSSROADS is very inconsistent and has no idea where to go.  The screenwriters couldn’t decide if the movie should be a drama, a dark comedy, a Britney Spears tribute, a heartwarming teen flick a la SHE’S ALL THAT, or a borderline AMERICAN PIE; it has touches of all of them. 

In fact, trailers for the film target CROSSROADS for all ages, when in fact it should only be targeted at those 13 and older.  In the first 15 minutes you see Britney in her underwear twice (which isn’t bad for the guys) - once in lingerie.  Frequent sexual references are made and in one scene between the three girls, they reminisce about male genitalia.  Also, while staying at a hotel, an underaged Kit exclaims “Wet bar!” and she and the underaged Lucy dig into bottles of alcohol.  The film tries to reverse that underage drinking message a few minutes later, but it is quite unsuccessful.  Needless to say, several parents walked out of the film with their young girls in tow.

At times, CROSSROADS can be somewhat charming in minimal doses - mostly so when Britney Spears stays inside the Lucy character and doesn’t perform.  Worse films have been made (read DR. T AND THE WOMEN) with better directors.  The Britney Spears tributes and thematical scattershooting became quite tiresome quickly.  Nonetheless, something tells me Spears could be a decent actress if she worked herself out of the teenybopper mold and expanded her material to darker and more adult material; CROSSROADS simply lacked direction and needed more focus.

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