Crossroads (2002)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Tamra Davis
Written by Shonda Rhimes
Starring Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Dan Ackroyd, Kim Cattrall

Features:

• Britney's DVD Welcome
  
• Break Through Britney - Fun Facts and Inside Comments from Britney accessed during the movie
  
• Two Music videos: "Overprotected (darkchild remix)" Music Video and "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" Music Video
  
• Commentary with Producer Ann Carli, Director Davis and Writer Rhimes
  
• The Making of Crossroads: 40 Days with Britney
  
• First In Line: Inside the Crossroads' Premiere
  
• Seven Deleted Scenes with On-Camera Introductions by Director Davis
  
• Sing Along with Britney: Karaoke Videos for "Overprotected" and "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"
  
• Edit Your Own Music Video
  
• Taryn's T-Shirts - How to Make the T-Shirts from the "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" Karaoke Scene
  
• Crossroads Photo Gallery
  
• Four TV Spots
  
• Domestic Theatrical Trailer
  
• International Theatrical Teaser Trailer
  

Lucy (Spears) and her childhood friends have grown apart as they have gone through high school. Lucy is her class valedictorian, Kit (Saldana) is an African-American beauty queen, and Mimi (Manning) lives in a trailer park and has gotten herself pregnant by a controversial father. Several years previously, they buried a time capsule together and vowed to dig it up on midnight on their graduation night. They wind up going on a road trip from Georgia to California with a hunk of an ex-con (Justin Long) driving the car for them. Along the way, they learn a little bit about friendship and a lot about themselves.

Well, this movie really works for two different demographic groups: pre-adolescent girls, and any age of post-adolescent heterosexual males. It really might as well have been directed by John Hughes, because that's pretty much the feel you get from it. It's chocked full of the high school stereotypes that keep spouting out your typical teen-angst dialogue. To be fair, it's easy for us as adults to forget the "I Will Live Forever" attitude that dominates our lives in high school, but I don't understand why someone can't write a decent movie about life in high school without feeling like they have to include all the trite characters. (HTQ4 steps down from his soapbox to continue the rest of the review...)

Spears' performance could have been worse. I guess her years as a Mouseketeer helped her out here. For the most part, I believed her in the role, and that's with the pretty crappy dialogue she had to work with. Kim Cattrall is a believable mother for Spears and the scenes they have together are okay, but again, the scenes don't really go anywhere and seem to languish in a deep pool of angst. And, I guess I should state it here just in case you didn't really know: Dan Ackroyd's career is at its lowest point. I don't really understand why producers and directors always turn to Ackroyd when they need a typical southern father. He has proven throughout the years that he can't really hang in a role where he has to do an accent seriously, and this one is no different. His accent is bad and, yet, it still seems to be getting in the way of his acting. Finally, the locations they scouted seem to come from the Big Book of Locations Which Don't Seem to Fit with the Plot, but Let the Audience Know Where We are Supposed to Be (see Chapter 14, "Really Creepy Deep South Locations").

Don't even attempt the extra content of this DVD unless you are a hard core Britney Spears fan or you can stomach 400 lbs. of sugar in one day without dying. It all starts with Britney's DVD Welcome, where Britney gives you a personal welcome to the DVD of her first big movie, Crossroads...and that's really about all she says. It probably took you longer to read it in this review than it did for her to say it on the screen. Then, we move on to the Break Through Britney segment, where you can watch the movie and access special trivial facts about the filming of the movie from Britney herself.

Of the featurettes, the most relevant is The Making of Crossroads, which has your typical cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage, but you are also overwhelmed with images of Britney telling everyone she sees that they are the best person she has ever known. Then we get to watch Britney surprise her mother for her birthday on the set. All in all, this is where most of the sugary content resides. I had to take a bath in Listerine just to make sure my teeth didn't rot out from all the sugary sweetness oozing out of my DVD player. Gah.

First in Line just covers the premiere of the movie. It's pretty boring, and you already know what it's about: What Britney's wearing, who she's with, and the unspoken hope the paparazzi have that they will be given the exclusive rights to covering the loss of Spears' mysterious virginity. The other featurette is called Taryn's T-Shirts and feels more like Martha Stewart than Britney Spears. It shows you how to make the T-shirts that were worn in one of the scenes in the movie. I'm wearing mine right now, and yes, my midriff is showing, too. Since I had the T-shirt and I was one step closer to being Just Like Britney, I decided I'd really get into the "Sing Along with Britney" segment. I stood in my living room with a hairbrush as a microphone and sang along with both of the tunes that are on this DVD. Just in case I didn't know the words, they were there for me, just like a karaoke machine in the comfort of my own home! And, if that wasn't enough, I could edit my own Britney video. Wow!

There are deleted scenes, but not enough of them. There should have been much more cut from the film than there was. Oh yeah, rather than having a commentary track for them, we have each one of them introduced by Tamra Davis. The rest of the features pale in comparison to what we've just been through: TV spots, Trailers, Photo Galleries, etc. I want to point out that even though I really didn't like the content of these features, the DVD is an pretty decent example of how a DVD should be put together. They really went out of their way to load it up with special features that would make it absolutely irresistible to teeny-boppers.

This DVD is not for the faint of heart. Watch it at your own peril. And, please, heed my warning, if you are diabetic, do not watch this film without a four-year supply of insulin ready to go at a moment's notice.