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Crossroads
(Paramount Home
Entertainment) |
| DVD
Release Date: |
July
23, 2002
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| Length: |
93
mins. |
| Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Format: |
Widescreen
(1.85:1) |
| Languages: |
English,
French |
| Subtitles: |
English |
| Extras: |
Britney Spears Video Commentary, Screen-Specific Audio
Commentary, Making-Of Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Video
Editing Workshop, 2 Music Videos with Karaoke Function,
Theatrical Trailers
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Crossroads marks the big screen debut of
Britney Spears. I will give her credit - it is a decent effort. It is
the story of three girls, fresh off their high school graduation, who
decide to head off on a cross country adventure to Los Angeles, with
each having issues needing resolution. The girls are accompanied on
their trip by Ben, a college student/musician with his own secrets.
Along the way, the girls discover love, heartbreak and rekindle their
childhood friendship.
Now, up front, let's be honest. Crossroads is not a movie that was
made to win any awards. It was made for teenage girls as a vehicle to
promote a Britney album. Of course, the movie gives Britney's
character Lucy a few different opportunities to show off her voice. I
didn't really have any problems with that, especially since a couple
of those scenes showed off a bit more than her vocal range. In fact, two scenes like this in the first 10 minutes of Crossroads are
attention-grabbers for sure!! And the movie did have a couple of funny
parts. I was amused by a scene early in the movie where Lucy almost
loses her virginity to her willing but nerdy lab partner. However,
Crossroads does come up lame in the drama department. A storyline
involving Lucy wanting to meet her mother ends quickly. Also, a crossing in the plots involving Lucy's best friends is
rather predictable.
Appearances by Dan Aykroyd and Kim Cattrall did little for the movie.
The features on the DVD would appear to be geared towards her
younger female audience. There is a karaoke option where you can sing
along with a couple of Britney's songs. There is a director's
commentary, along with a separate "commentary" by Britney
herself. What this actually consists of is a bubble of Britney popping
up pretty infrequently giving us not-so-interesting tidbits about the
movie - like that she had fun in a certain scene. There is also a 30-second DVD introduction by Britney that really bothered me.
I don't know why they even bothered to include it. A couple of
featurettes are somewhat interesting. The first is a 20 minute
making-of feature that, although interesting, seemed like it was
included so that everyone associated with the movie could tell us how
nice and down-to-earth Britney is. There is another brief feature
showing footage from the movie's premiere, as well as one
showing how they designed the movie's t-shirts. As for the audio
format, the film, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sounds clear
and distinct.
Crossroads is a DVD that is not bad
to see just once. The features, while plentiful, aren't going to
blow you away. The movie itself is not bad. The plot is okay, and
Britney isn't really that bad an actress compared with say, Lance Bass
of N*Sync and his horrible venture into movies. Plus, for the guys out
there, seeing Britney wearing less than usual makes it worth the rent.
| Recommendation: |
Rent
This One |
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