CROSSROADS

Women singers and songwriters are big these days in the pop music world. And, there’s no bigger woman in pop music today than Britney Spears. Spears already has become a popular figure in TV commercials, where she’s managed to parlay her nubile tanned body and beautiful blonde hair to sell soda pop. Now, she’s decided to try taking Hollywood by storm by appearing in her first movie, CROSSROADS.

In CROSSROADS, Britney Spears plays Lucy, a high school valedictorian in Georgia. After rejecting her nearly naked, nerdy lab partner’s amorous intentions in the bedroom on graduation night, Lucy takes off on a road trip west with two old girlfriends and a handsome young rock and roller, Ben, with a questionable background. One girlfriend, Mimi, is pregnant after being raped. Mimi and Ben are headed for a rock audition in Los Angeles. Lucy’s other girlfriend, Kit, intends to surprise her fiancé who’s going to school at UCLA. Lucy wants to see her estranged mother in Arizona, who abandoned Lucy and her father when Lucy was three. Needless to say, not everything goes as planned, but Lucy gets discovered as a talented new singer – after losing her virginity, of course.

Britney Spears has come under attack for the sleaziness and sexual innuendo she often incorporates into parts of her concerts and her commercials. In this respect, Spears seems to be following in the footsteps of Madonna. The same thing happens with CROSSROADS. In fact, the movie actually opens with Lucy, dressed only in her panties and a loose-fitting blouse, lip-synching to a song by Madonna. Although Lucy eventually rejects her lab partner, that rejection doesn’t come until he strips down to his underwear and she appears in a sexy red bra and panty outfit. Later, however, Lucy has no second thoughts about losing her virginity to Ben.

The sexual immorality in Spears’ act and her first movie, CROSSROADS, is terribly unfortunate, especially since she seems to be such a popular star for young teenagers, and even pre-teens. In fact, at the press screening for CROSSROADS, many parents brought their pre-teen children. Happily, however, CROSSROADS is not much of a movie, so, hopefully, not many pre-teens or teenagers will see it. This will increasingly become true, hopefully, as word gets out that the movie is not very good.

Although Spears does not fare as badly as Mariah Carey in her movie debut, GLITTER, the CROSSROADS filmmakers have saddled Britney with a poorly structured story that lacks focus. The story meanders in the middle and isn’t all that entertaining or energetic in the other parts. It is clear, however, that Spears has a good singing voice and may develop her acting talent as she gains more experience.

In addition to the movie’s bad message about premarital sex, CROSSROADS has a Romantic worldview. Follow your dreams, no matter what your parents say, is the primary message of this movie. Thus, even though Dan Aykroyd plays a positive father figure in CROSSROADS, the movie’s worldview leads to false, immoral conclusions.