So I saw this movie twice in two days, with a combined sense of admiration and mocking, and I must admit, to myself and to everyone, that I am a closet Britney fan. I don't really like her music much. I'm not attracted to the girl ... woman, whatever. I just think she's fun to watch, whether complaining about how her dancing is killing her on the latest episode of "Making the Video" or talking with Rosie O'Donnell about just how much she loves Justin Timberlake, that stick figure boyfriend of hers. I like her presence. I like that she seems like she'd be cool to hang out with, like she's the sort of girl who's nice enough that your parents would like her but also the sort who's wild enough that you know she'd say bad words about her own parents behind their back.
"Crossroads," her film debut, is complete cheese. It's not childish in the issues it deals with (sex, drinking, date rape, child abandonment, miscarriage), but it doesn't deal with those issues in any profound sort of way. In the film, if Britney's friend, White Trash Girl, had been retarded and Britney'd been on speed and run through a plate-glass window, then essentially you'd have every Helen Hunt Afterschool Special ever made. Her acting, given the story, is competent enough.
If you go into the theater with a playful attitude and are ready to make fun of it as a parody of every predictable teen message movie ever made, though, "Crossroads" provides you with a damn fine time. Try to watch it without referring to any character by their given name, since all the characters are archetypes anyway, and the formula behind the film becomes both apparent and laughable.
Britney (the Smart Girl), White Trash Girl and Popular Girl used to be friends, but the evils of high school society have forced them to break up their once solid friendship. Through odd twists of chance and through the arrival of, dare I say it, restructured priorities, they reunite, renew their friendship and hit the road with Really Cute Guy With A Past.
Each has their own goal, of course. (It's a formula road movie.) Britney wants to find out why her nouveau-riche skank of a mother abandoned her. Recently knocked up, White Trash Girl wants to get out of the trailer park and feel the Pacific Ocean on her toes. Popular Girl wants to visit her fiance. Along the way, much of the usual fun and shenanigans occur as each of the girls (sob!) finds they have to grow up and learn about the real world. And then, they all sing!
At face value, it's not that bad of a movie. It's watchable, which is what I come to expect when a film is released in the first two months of any given year.
But if you go in ready to give it the "MST3K" treatment, you'll have a blast.
"Crossroads," her film debut, is complete cheese. It's not childish in the issues it deals with (sex, drinking, date rape, child abandonment, miscarriage), but it doesn't deal with those issues in any profound sort of way. In the film, if Britney's friend, White Trash Girl, had been retarded and Britney'd been on speed and run through a plate-glass window, then essentially you'd have every Helen Hunt Afterschool Special ever made. Her acting, given the story, is competent enough.
If you go into the theater with a playful attitude and are ready to make fun of it as a parody of every predictable teen message movie ever made, though, "Crossroads" provides you with a damn fine time. Try to watch it without referring to any character by their given name, since all the characters are archetypes anyway, and the formula behind the film becomes both apparent and laughable.
Britney (the Smart Girl), White Trash Girl and Popular Girl used to be friends, but the evils of high school society have forced them to break up their once solid friendship. Through odd twists of chance and through the arrival of, dare I say it, restructured priorities, they reunite, renew their friendship and hit the road with Really Cute Guy With A Past.
Each has their own goal, of course. (It's a formula road movie.) Britney wants to find out why her nouveau-riche skank of a mother abandoned her. Recently knocked up, White Trash Girl wants to get out of the trailer park and feel the Pacific Ocean on her toes. Popular Girl wants to visit her fiance. Along the way, much of the usual fun and shenanigans occur as each of the girls (sob!) finds they have to grow up and learn about the real world. And then, they all sing!
At face value, it's not that bad of a movie. It's watchable, which is what I come to expect when a film is released in the first two months of any given year.
But if you go in ready to give it the "MST3K" treatment, you'll have a blast.