Frank Sinatra. Elvis Presley. Mick Jaegger. Madonna. Many of the greatest names of pop music in the last century or so tried to use their fame to start parallel careers in cinema, with varying degrees of success. Britney Spears joined their ranks with her screen acting debut in Crossroads, 2002 drama directed by Tamra Davis.
Spears plays Lucy Wagner, teenager living in small Georgia town. Many years ago, while she was still a child, she has made a pact with two of her best friends; trio is supposed to help each other make their wishes come true following high school graduation. Lucy now is not on best terms with them, but three girls nevertheless decide to travel to California together. Lucy intends to visit her mother Caroline (played by Kim Cattrall) who lives in Tucson, Arizona after abandoning her father Peter (played by Dan Aykroyd) while Lucy was child. Kit (played by Zoe Saldana), who was among more popular girls in high school, wants to visit her fiance who studies at UCLA. Mimi (played by Taryn Manning), outcast from trailer park, intends to take part in pop group audition despite being pregnant. Along the way girls are joined by Ben (played by Anson Mount), mysterious rock musician who is rumoured of having spent time in prison for murder.
Crossroads wasn’t greeted with much expectations, despite being made at the height of Spears’ popularity. Spears wasn’t actually well liked by music critics, and she was even less liked by film critics. Film was greeted with open hostility and, despite modest box office success, was immediately branded as failure and serious Razzie contender. Same like many films with extremely bad reputation, Crossroads isn’t actually that bad. Spears plays character in many ways similar to herself, so her lack of acting ability isn’t that apparent, even when paired by much more talented and interesting actresses like Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning. The most irritating thing about Crossroads is script by Shonda Rhimes, writer best known as author of some of the most successful television series in next two decades. She uses some of the corniest cliches and tropes of Hollywood coming-of-age dramas. Director Tamra Davis handles the plot in mostly satisfactory manner, but she can’t overcome issues with Rhimes’ clumsy script which at times leaves impression of being not completely finished. Crossroads was given Razzie for Worst Actress and Razzie for Worst Original Song (for “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman”), but it is likely that some of the loyal Spears fans would now enjoy it as nostalgic piece. Most of the other audience would appreciate spending hour and half of their lives on something else.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
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