Crossroads (2002) Review

Crossroads+%282002%29+Review

Dahlia Bray, Staff Writer

High school graduation and California dreaming sets the stage for Britney Spear’s film debut in “Crossroads,” a coming-of-age film released in 2002 that tells the story of three best friends, a boy and a record deal.

From the very beginning, it becomes apparent that this movie is more worried about marketing Britney Spears’ self titled album “Britney” than actually creating an interesting and impactful storyline.

Though the film is meant to publicize Britney Spears, there are scenes that will inevitably put a smile on your face. Scenes like these mostly take place in the middle of the film when the three girls Lucy, Mimi and Kit and love interest Ben are road tripping to California. The road trip is as clichè as movie road trips come, featuring car break downs and a small budget. The highlight of the road trip features one of the biggest ploys the movie has, a singing competition where Britney Spears sings one of the featured songs from her album, “I Love Rock N Roll,” and wins the competition to gain money for the trip.

As the crew reaches their destination, California, Britney flourishes in her role as the music-loving girl abandoning her dreams of being a doctor in Georgia and focusing on being a star in Los Angeles. All of a sudden her character, Lucy, writes poems, and she becomes fixated on one in particular, yet another one of the hit songs from “Britney,” “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.” From the middle of the movie to the finale, this song sticks around and becomes somewhat of a theme song.

Eventually, the other two main characters everyone forgot about come back into the main plot and vote no for their chance at a record deal and instead encourage their poet, song-writing friend to audition for a record deal at a local recording studio.

As expected, Lucy enters the competition, singing “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” and wins.

The movie quickly cuts to close and the credits display one last marketing attempt by making the credits roll over the video for “Overprotected,” another hit song from “Britney.”

Even though the film has little actual plot, it is still an enjoyable, coming-of-age film about pursuing your dreams alongside your best friends.