"All we have is now, and right now we have each other"
Crossroads came out in 2002, during Britney Spears's heyday. Younger people may not realize how big Britney Spears was in the early 2000s. It was natural for her to make her way into acting. Problem is, Britney Spears isn't a very good actress.
Directed by Tamra Davis, Crossroads is a very formulaic coming of age film. Lucy (Spears) is a new high school graduate who is under the rule of her father (Dan Aykroyd), all he wants her to do is ignore her social life and become a doctor. Meanwhile, Lucy has broken up with her friends during high school. Her friends consist of Kit (Zoe Saldana) who has become a self-centered model and Mimi (Taryn Manning) who has become pregnant trailer trash. Lucy, now has the reputation of being a goody two shoes. When Mimi brings the trio back together to dig up a time capsule they buried as children, she reveals she will be going across country to go to L.A. for a singing competition. The trio head out with Ben (Anson Mount) who is allegedly a murderer (we later find out it was rumor). And that's pretty much the entire movie.
This is a very bland and (as mentioned before) formulaic. There is nothing in this movie we haven't seen previously in other films. Britney Spears is a cardboard actress (at least in this movie). Taryn Manning plays trailer trash which is a stretch for her from playing previous trailer trash characters. Manning was clearly put on this earth to play trailer trash. Even Zoe Saldana, who is a good actress, is bad in this movie.
Also, this movie treats pregnancy as a disease. During a karaoke scene (which is only there to promote a single from Britney's 2001 album "Britney") Mimi attempts to sing, which she sucks at, you hear a random guy in the crowd yell out "SHE'S PREGNANT!" and then later on when Dan Aykroyd's character finds Lucy he says to here "This isn't like you, running way... with a PREGNANT GIRL!". I mean, come on! Pregnant women are still women, they can stand and sing, they can travel, it's not something taboo or crazy. Yes, she is a teenager, but she's 18, so what difference does it make?
Overall, this movie isn't very good. With the bland acting and the poor writing, this movie is just a promotional video for Britney Spears and her recent album at the time. That being said, this movie has a special place in my heart as I am a pretty hardcore Britney fan and I was definitely a hardcore fan in 2002. So, I enjoy this movie but I can see its major flaws and recognize this movie as bad.
