Crossroads - PG-13
Best for: Mature teens and older fans of Britney Spears.
What it's about: Lucy (Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) are childhood friends who graduate from high school and wind up on a road trip to California. They hitch a ride with Mimi's friend, Ben (Anson Mount), in his '73 Buick convertible, with no money and no plan. Lucy wants to get away from her overbearing father (Dan Aykroyd) and find her mother (Kim Cattrall) who abandoned her when she was an infant. What they discover about themselves and their dreams will change their lives and their friendship forever.
The good: If you enjoy Spears' singing, you'll probably like her new single from the movie, I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman as well as her rendition of Open Your Heart by Madonna. For her first role, I have to say Spears doesn't do a bad job. But she could have done a much better job had she been given a script that didn't try to be all things to all age groups! Mount does the best with what little dialogue he has, playing the tall, dark and handsome boyfriend.
The not-so-good: Realizing that this is a movie targeted to the 8- to 12-year-old crowd, I was shocked and disappointed at the language, mature themes and blatant selling of sex in a movie meant for teenyboppers.
Parents, don't be fooled on this one. This coming-of-age story is about an intelligent high-school valedictorian who almost chooses to lose her virginity to her geeky lab partner (whom she couldn't care less about) but instead loses it to Ben, a guy she meets on the trip. Mature issues are dealt with in a poor way or presented in such a ridiculous manner it's offensive: the girls get drunk one night and have hangovers afterward, they talk about losing (or having lost) their virginity (which is almost treated as some right-of-passage out of high school), they diet to look skinny and talk about being "too beautiful" for a jealous mom. A girl is called "trailer trash," a character has a miscarriage after falling down some stairs, Lucy's mother tells Lucy she was a "mistake," and an engagement is treated like a joke.
The movie has plenty of shots of Spears in her underwear or baring her trademark midriff. The theater I attended was full of moms with their under-13 daughters and friends. I wondered how many moms really thought this was "wholesome" entertainment for their daughters.
Offensive language and behavior: Lots of four-letter words, with a couple of religious exclamations and sexual references. A girl runs from behind a bush exclaiming a snake bit her on her bottom.
Sexual situations: It's implied that Lucy loses her virginity to Ben (we see him take off his shirt and she takes off an outer top). Nothing is shown, but he asks her, "Are you sure?" She says "yes," and they kiss passionately. We then see them waking up together. Spears has a couple of scenes showing her dancing around in sexy underwear and pajamas. Lots of bare midriffs and sexy clothing.
Violence: A girl slugs a guy in the face; Mimi talks about how she was raped and got pregnant; Mimi falls down some stairs and loses the baby; two girls get into a fight and push each other around.
Parental advisory: This is a movie about high-school graduates who are "not yet [girls], not yet [women]" and the adult situations they go through to grow up too fast.
Bottom line: I was disappointed in this movie. It has too many adult issues and themes and tries to be too serious for the age group who will flock to see it. Parents, if you let your daughters see this movie, make sure you discuss it afterward.
