Crossroads (2002 film)

Crossroads
File:Crossroads movie.jpg Promotional poster for Crossroads
Directed by	Tamra Davis
Written by	Shonda Rhimes
Produced by	Ann Carli
Starring	Britney Spears Anson Mount Zoë Saldaña Taryn Manning Dan Aykroyd Kim Cattrall Justin Long
Cinematography	Eric Alan Edwards
Edited by	Melissa Kent
Distributed by	Paramount
Release dates	February 15, 2002
Running time	93 min
Language	English
Budget	US$12 million

Crossroads is a 2002 teen film starring pop superstar Britney Spears in her first major movie role. Spears plays teenage Lucy, the lead character. It is set in Louisiana and Los Angeles during 1999. According to Britney Spears Crossroads means to fix problems, cross or move to a better point in your life, and try to make yourself achieve your dreams. The film was directed by Tamra Davis and produced by Ann Carli. Zoë Saldaña and Taryn Manning also play roles in the movie. The film was relesed by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

The movie starts out with three young girls from Georgia, Lucy (Britney Spears), Mimi (Taryn Manning) and Kit (Zoë Saldaña) burying a "wish box" in the ground. They vow to dig it up on the night of their high school graduation. They also all pledge to stay best friends forever...

The present day, Lucy is dancing on her bed in her underwear to Madonna. Her father Pete (Dan Aykroyd) comes in. Lucy is a valedictorian at her school and today is graduation. She, Mimi and Kit are no longer friends.

Mimi is seen as trailer trash, even more so because she is pregnant. Kit is the popular homecoming queen who is engaged to be married to Dylan (Richard Voll), a college student in L.A. Lucy is the smart girl with perfect grades. She wants to pursue music in college while her father wants her to become a doctor. Lucy's mom left when Lucy was three and now lives in Arizona. Lucy is disappointed that she didn't get to experience high school like everyone else because she was always studying. Her father assures her that she is better because of it.

That night all the seniors are at a big party. Mimi tries to persuade Kit and Lucy to come and dig up the box, but they refuse as they already have plans. Lucy and her lab partner Henry (Justin Long) have agreed to sleep with each other in order to avoid the alleged shame associated with being virgins, and Kit just wants to party.

Later, at the place where they buried the box, Mimi goes to dig it up. She is surprised to see both Lucy and Kit there. Lucy decided not to sleep with her lab partner because she wants her first time to be special. They realize that their dreams haven't come true. Mimi says that she is going to fulfill her dream to see the world by leaving for LA to enter a singing contest. She invites the others to come if they want to. Lucy's dream was to see her Mom and goes on the trip to be dropped off in Arizona to meet her. Kit's wish was to be happily married so she goes to visit her fiance in LA. Ben (Anson Mount), a guitarist, has agreed to drive them.

The girls are still very awkward around each other so for a while the trip is dull and filled with tension. They stop at a shabby motel to stay the first night where they realize that they only have $400 and will have to spend wisely.

File:Mount&Spears.jpg

Spears and Mount

As they are driving the next day their car breaks down. Lucy recognizes the problem immediately, because her father is a mechanic. However, the group doesn't have enough money to repair it. They decide to have Mimi perform Karaoke to win some money, but she backs out and Lucy is forced to step in. The girls go down well and they earn enough money to repair their car and to last them the rest of the trip. They stay in a lavish, clearly expensive hotel and spend all night talking and sharing experiences. Lucy shares that she is scared about meeting her mother. Mimi reveals that she doesn't actually live up to her "wild" reputation, and that the only time she really "partied" was at Christmas when she got very intoxicated on alcohol. She was driven home by a man who raped her, and that he is the real father of her baby. She remembers that he drank from a blue bottle, and she says that she is going to raise the baby on her own.

The group continues on the next morning. Lucy and Ben are becoming very close. She even shares her poetry with him. She reads him a poem called "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman" and he later puts it to music for her.

When they finally arrive in Arizona, Lucy leaves the group and goes to meet her mother, played by Kim Catrall. She remarried and has two sons, Lucy's half brothers, who didn't even know about her. Lucy realizes that her father was right about her mother and feels unwanted. For this reason, she goes to the hotel that the group is staying at and tearfully tells them the rest. Her mom told her that she was an accident and that her father forced her Mom to have Lucy. Ben listens to her and they become closer.

At last they arrive in LA. One day, before the contest, Mimi and Kit go out sightseeing. Kit wants to go and visit her fiance, Dylan. When they arrive, they discover another woman in his room. Kit then notices the blue beer bottle in Dylan's hand and realizes that he was the man who raped Mimi. Mimi starts to run away, ashamed, and trips down some stairs. She is rushed to the hospital.

At the same time Lucy and Ben are having sex back in the hotel room. They receive a phone call and rush to the hospital, where they hear from Mimi that she lost the baby and is heartbroken. Lucy stays in the hospital for a while. During that time she calls her father who immediately flies to LA. He starts to take all of the girls to the airport when Lucy tells him that she is staying and runs to Ben, and they kiss.

At the contest, Lucy sings her song "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." Then the movie cuts again to the beach where the girls are burying a new wishbox, to forget about their past. They pledge to be there for each other always.

Production

Directing

At first the film was planned to star shooting in late 2001 early 2002 but director Tamra Davis said that everyone was ready and that Britney knew all her lines. She also said why wasting time while we can release the film in Late 2001 or early 2002. Both Britney Spears and director Tamra Davis wanted the film to star shooting in mid 2001. In a interview with Showtime first look, Tamra Davis said "I think that Britney's name should be credited as the director too she was very careful with everything she show lots of things that were helpful to the film, she was also very pleased with what we did." Many cast members also said that Britney shoot some scenes for the film just for fun and later they were used in the final cut. The studio released some pictures and videos of Spears running around with the camera, and shooting some of the unreleased scenes of Crossroads.

Cast

The cast for the film was selected very careful since the project was kind of a secret in 2002. The main charecter named Lucy was played by Britney Spears, her two best friends Kit and Mimi were played by Zoë Saldaña and Taryn Manning. For the role of Ben Lucy's boyfriend, production wanted someone mature but young looking at the same time Anson Mount casted for the role and without thinking production signed him on the project. Other roles in the film were Pete Wagner which was played by Dan Aykroyd, Lucy's first boyfriend Henry played by Justin Long Caroline was played by Kim Cattrall and many other actors and actresses such as Beverly Johnson, Bahni Turpin, Kool Moe Dee, Richard Voll Dajine Colon, Crystal Milton had small but strong roles in the film, but the most surprising of all the roles was the young Lucy which was played by Jamie Lynn Spears who is in real life Britney Spears younger sister. According to some websites the young Lucy was about to be played by Lindsay Lohan, but Spears wanted her sister to be in the film and they removed Lohan and added Jamie Lynn Spears.

Cinematography

RobeEric Alan Edwards acted as cinematographer on the film Crossorads. He has also worked in the 2007 comedy award winning Knocked Up with director Judd Apatow, for fun and honoring Britney Spears, Judd Apatow and RobeEric Alan Edwards added the song Toxic to the film's soundtrack.

Filming locations

Since Crossroads is a rode teen film the shooting was more difficult for director Tamra Davis, since it was her first in that genre. The first scene of the film was shot in The Ambassador Hotel were Britney and Justin Long are about to have sex. The film took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Los Angeles, California and some other parts of the United States, production wanted the film to be realistic and according to the DVD feature and IMDb.com, Crossroads was shot in exactly 40 days. filming also took place in Los Angeles, California; Malibu, California; Santa Clarita, California; Studio City, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Kenner, Louisiana; Metairie, Louisiana.

Unreleased photage

There is an unofficial or unrelease scene of the film. The clip is 30 seconds long. The short scene shows Britney Spears, Zoë Saldaña and Taryn Manning walking on a hotel hallway, the teens play a joke on people by knocking doors and showing their breath. according to pruction the back then teens did not show any of their private parts.

Soundtrack

Main article: Music from the Major Motion Picture Crossroads

Spears wanted to record special songs for the soundtrack but due to bussy schedule on recording the album and shooting the film almost at the same time she couln't do it. But the film featured three Britney's songs from her self-titled album: "Overprotected", "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" and "I Love Rock 'N' Roll". An original CD soundtrack was released with six songs taken from the movie. The album was release as limited editionis and to date is one of the more collectible Britney Spears releases.

Ratings

Before the film was released, some were initially confused as to what its content rating would be. Many speculated that it would be rated PG ("Parental Guidance suggested", featuring language, violence or themes considered to inappropriate for younger children but not extremely so), owing to the number of young fans of Britney Spears at the time.

Contradicting this theory in 2001, a website reported that Crossroads was to be rated "R" for strong violence, sexual content/nudity, and strong drug use. In the end, however, this information was revealed to be either a publicity stunt or ordinary outright hoax, since the film is in fact rated PG-13 in the United States for mild sexual content and brief teen drinking. The film was rated "B" in Mexico, which means intended for 10 years or older; it was rated as such for the same reasons as its rating in the United States. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world - including the United Kingdom and Singapore - it received a "PG" rating. In Germany it received a "6" rating, in Sweden it received a "7" rating, and in South Korea it received a "16" rating; all of these numerical ratings refer to the minimum age for viewers, meaning that it was considered suitable for younger ages in Germany and Sweden than in the Americas, but considered inappropriate for 13-15 year olds in South Korea, unlike in the United States.

In some parts of the world, many were shocked at the film's inclusion of mature content. Though some reviews were positive in foreign countries, many said that the film was not suitable for Britney Spears' fans, and that it was an amatuerish film.

Response

Box office

Crossroads was a succesful film at the box office, surprising box office analysts but not the fans critics give mixed reviews but favorable media buzz. Costing $12 million to produce, Crossroads opened with "a succesful $15 million" in the United States making per-theater an average of $6,103; box office analysts originally predicted an opening weekend total of $10 -$13 million. The film open at number 2 in the United States behind Denzel Washington's John Q. On its second week in theaters moved to number 5 on the chart collecting $7.1 million dollars. Crossroands never reached number 1 on the chart, but it grossed over $37.1 million dollars in the United States alone, and $62 million dollars worldwide. To date Britney Spears is number 13, and number 10 in MTV Brand movies. Combined with the 24 million grossed outside the United States, Crossroads would ultimately earn more than $57 million in cinemas , and gross another $6 million in rentals.

Critical reception

Crossroads was not a big succes, as it was predicted the movie received mixed reviews, many panning the film and called it "predictable, after school special, bland and stated it wasn't appropriate for Britney's young fans". There were some positive responses to Spears' acting; sources such as E! said that Spears' breezy acting style was more enjoyable to watch than fellow pop-stars-turned-actresses Mandy Moore and Mariah Carey. . Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum said that Britney was amazing and that people judge the film because they want to see her down, the film was perfect the cast was perfect and it was beautiful, she also said Britney has been delivered to the big screen safe and sound, the way we like our 20-year-old superstar girls to travel on the fame freeway, she give the film a B+, while EW.com readers give the film an A-. The New York Times give the film a positive review calling it "The perfect chick flick", they also said highbrow self-appointed guardians of culture need not apply, but those who loved Cool as Ice have at last found a worthy follow-up. Todd R. Ramlow from PopMatters wrote Crossroads and Brit herself may be silly, superficial, and bubbly, but so what? She and the film are also fun, sexy, and playful, giving it 9 out of 10 stars. Critics Dustin Putman from TheMovieBoy said that it tends to pile too many "serious issues" on its plate at times, yet remains fairly light, always entertaining, and smartly written. Hollywood Reporter give the director Tamra Davis credit for her directing saying "Davis directs the low-budget production with economy and a lack of surface flashiness that is pleasingly unpretentious."Tamra Davis scores big. BBC recommended the film for Spears acting and said "Spears manages to come across on film as natural, endearing, and extremely likable". the give the film 3 out of 5 stars. Atlanta Journal- Constitution said that the film was clichés pile up in Crossroads, but it's harmless, powder-puff fun. scoring a B. The film recived 4 out of 5 stars at Yaho! movies UK, at the web site IMDb.com the film recieved more then one thousand 10 stars out of 10. It also received two MTV Movie Award nominations. Ebert and Roeper on their show said that the film was a good melodramatic teen flick, and Britney couldn't act, or that she didn't do her best, and that Anson Mount was too old and looked too old to play the hunky Ben. They did say he was handsome enough. They also believed that the film's PG-13 rating was too liberal because of its mature content. Leonard Maltin give it 3 out of 4 stars and said it was an innocous, predictable teen fare with a few serious moments. He did however, praise Britney for not wasting her time showing her underwear. The film received anovation at the Hollywood premier for been a film to look up to. Schools in the United States played the film so young teens can realise that young pregnancy and running away is not the best thing to do.

Home Releases

DVD Release

The DVD was released in July 23, 2002. The art cover of the DVD shows Taryn Manning, Britney Spears and Zoë Saldaña walking on the freeway. The DVD was released by Paramount Pictures as a collectors edition.. There are rumors that a Platinum Edition will be released sometime in 2008, but Paramount nor Britney Spears have said anything about this plans. The DVD contains a good amount of special features. The most notable feature is make your own Britney Music Video, in which you have the change to create and edit your own Britney Spears video with the song I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman

Special feature

American DVD Features

1. Britney's DVD Welcome
2. Break Through Britney - Fun facts and inside comments from Britney accessed during the movie
3. Commentary with producer Ann Carli, director Tamra Davis and writer Shonda Rhimes
4. The making of Crossroads 40 days with Britney
5. First in line: Inside the Crossroads premier
6. 7 Deleted Sceneswith On-Camera introductions by director Tamra Davis

Music Videos

1. Overprotected
2. I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman

1. Sing along with Britney Karaoke videos for Overprotected and I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
2. Edit your own Music Video
3. Taryn's t-shirt - How to make the t-shits from the "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" karaoke scene.
4. Crossroads photo gallery
5. 4 TV spots
6. Domestic theatrical trailer
7. Widescreen / Fullscreen
8. Dolby Digital Englisg 5.1 surround/French dobly surround.
9. English/ Spanish subtitles

VHS Release

The VHS was release on December 3, 2002, as well known the VHS had some special features including a Britney Spears video for Overprotected, the video was in color and in English. There was a collectors VHS that was subtitle in spanish it contain the video for Overprotected in English as well.

Awards and nominations

Year	Ceremony	Category	Result
2002	MTV Movie Awards	Best Dressed	nominated
2002	MTV Movie Awards	Breakthrough Female Performance	nominated
2002	Teen Choice Awards (Film)	Choice Actress, Drama/Action	nominated
2002	Teen Choice Awards (Film)	Choice Chemistry (Britney Spears and Anson Mount)	nominated

External links

• Official site
• Crossroads at IMDb
• Crossroads at Rotten Tomatoes
• Crossroads at Box Office Mojo
• Crossroads at RiffTrax