I must say that I was very disappointed when I watched CROSSROADS, though I am pretty sure it isn't for the reason you'd think. You see, I am a bad movie nut--and I love laughing at the worst stuff Hollywood has to offer. And, based on what I'd heard about this film, I assumed it was simply dreadful...painfully dreadful, in fact. However, while I'd never in the least say it was a good film, it wasn't that bad--and one of the brightest aspects of the film was actually Britney Spears, as she COULD act and was very effective in her role--even though it, like the others, was poorly written. And this is THE reason I'd say this isn't a very good film. While the acting and direction are pretty good, the script is like a string of clichés all strung together and it's pure formula--with very, very few surprises (other than Spears' strong acting).

The film is a coming of age/road movie involving three young ladies who are mostly stereotypes and not real people. Britney plays an overachiever whose father plans on her going to medical school (Britney...in medical school?!). Her other two friends are the stuck-up Black girl...with sass and attitude, as well as a more tom-boyish girl. All three characters do improve and show SOME life through the course of the film, but especially at the beginning they are like caricatures--not people you could suspect are real in any way...at least not on this planet.

But, despite the awful writing and music video-like qualities of the film, the overall concoction is pretty painless for what it is and isn't totally bad--hence my disappointment. I also should point out that although Miss Spears' target audience is the 10-15 year-old age group, the film is NOT family-friendly in its dealing with sex. While some of the messages about sexuality are good and informative (such as date rape--though they sure made this plot point a tiny bit too vague),the rest seem to say "well, if you know a guy, like, for a week or so,...um, yeah, like...you should do 'it'....for sure". Isn't this sweet?!

This reviewer is certainly not a Britney Spears detractor.

She doesn't have one of my favourite pop voices (compared to those with wider ranges and put more emotion in their singing, i.e. Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey) but she does have a good voice, she is a charismatic performer and her songs (if more before she started making headlines frequently with an increasingly messy personal life) are good and catchy.

With this being said, one cannot accuse me of being biased. Not a fan of Spears, but am a long way from disliking her. Having heard nothing but bad things about 'Crossroads' there was the worry of whether it was as bad as all that, but giving it a fair chance with no personal bias while 'Crossroads' is a long way from good it could have been much worse. It is much better than 'Glitter' with Mariah Carey, which didn't even have a good soundtrack and Carey's extraordinary abilities as a singer doesn't come over in her incredibly one-note acting.

Getting the good things out of the way with 'Crossroads', some of the scenery is nice, Justin Long and especially Dan Aykroyd make amusing enough cameos and the soundtrack is memorable and has a nice range of emotions. Despite the Golden Raspberry (Razzie) win and nomination, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "Overprotected" to me are not bad songs at all, in fact they were two of the soundtrack's highlights and most likely got the negative attention due to them being performed by Britney.

Britney has gotten a lot of stick for her acting here, and one can see why. She does fare better than Carey does in 'Glitter', she at least looks more engaged and has a better ability of displaying more than one emotion. Despite being a charismatic performer on stage, the same kind of charisma doesn't come over in her performance here, which has a lot of erratic changes of mood, awkward line delivery and lack of genuine emotion in the emotional scenes (she doesn't even convince doing crocodile tears). The rest of the cast don't fare so well either, with Kim Catrall wasted, Zoe Saldana annoying as a result of over-compensating and Anson Mount amongst others looking disengaged. Chemistry is also lacking.

In all fairness, the cast are saddled with shallow and underwritten characters that are written with no warmth or originality and a clichéd and tonally muddled script that is filled with cheesy and juvenile humour, clunky and attempts at emotion, heavy-handed dramatic elements in places where the film attempts to tackle more mature themes and romantic parts that have more sugar than a pack of eight diet coke cans. Tamra Davis is uninspired visually, with very limited use of camera techniques which cheapens the film's look, and lacks cohesion from a narrative point of view.

Despite a decent start, 'Crossroads' has a story that is as muddled and incomprehensible as its script, not being able to decide whether to be a road trip film, a vanity vehicle for Britney Spears, a comedy, a drama or a romance, because it tries to be all those things and doesn't work as any of them. The problems with the comedy, drama and romance have been detailed when describing what was wrong with the script, while the road trip parts are aimless and meandering and while not as self-indulgent as other music-themed films with similar kinds of stories it does feel like an extended advertisement for upcoming projects for Britney Spears herself and Britney's strengths are not put anywhere near enough to good use as an attempt to shed from her pop idol image.

In summary, was expecting much worse but 'Crossroads' to me, even when judging it with an open mind, was a long way from good. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Once upon a time, Lucy (Britney Spears),Kit (Zoe Saldana),and Mimi (Taryn Manning) were best friends. They buried a box of their dreams and vowed to dig it up on their senior prom night. They have drifted apart over the years. Lucy is a bookworm valedictorian who pines for her absent mother and to be a normal teenager. Kit is the popular mean girl. She's planning to marry her high school boyfriend but he has been distant ever since going off to college. Mimi is pregnant desperate to audition for a record company in L.A. Lucy and Kit have a disappointing prom and join Mimi in digging up the box. They both have a mission and follow Mimi on her road trip in Ben (Anson Mount)'s car.

Com'on, it's not that bad. Is it? Everybody trashes this for Spears. She doesn't fit the nerdy brains role. They could have at least given her a pair of glasses. She couldn't wait to get into a belly shirt. She's not that good as an actress but she's able to walk and talk. She does have good acting partners and I like the girls' frail friendship. Ben is an unnecessary extra and sometimes he sticks out. What's up with him angry at the girls driving? The story structure is fairly standard and this could have worked better. It's an early writing effort from Shonda Rhimes. It has her melodrama. I just don't buy that this is as bad as everybody claims.