Once again, it is time for moviegoers to learn a valuable after-school-special lesson: Growing up may be hard, but there will always be friends to count on.
Imagine three 8-year-old girls with a box full of wishes destined to be dug up on the night of high school graduation. Sounds like a season finale to \Punky Brewster,"" right? Well, it is actually Britney Spears' new movie, ""Crossroads.""
Innocent and dressed only in pink, Spears stars as Lucy, the high school valedictorian who worked so hard without ever having fun just to please daddy, Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd does a magnificent job reprising John Goodman's role from ""Coyote Ugly,"" complete with potbelly and crew cut.
Lucy has grown apart from her two childhood friends'the pregnant trailer-trash Mimi, and the stuck-up, engaged-to-a-college guy, popular, Kit. But over that box of wishes, Lucy and Kit decide to join Mimi on her trek across the country for a chance at a recording contract. Throw in a former jailbird who never seems to get a chance to shave, and his yellow ""cruiser,"" and get ready for shenanigans.
This trip has everything from Shania Twain sing-alongs to massive Cheetos-eating. Of course, there are those troubled times like when the ""cruiser"" breaks down and the girls have to compete in a karaoke contest in order to fix it. Good thing they brought Britney along.
Each girl achieves her dream or wish, but they do not come easily. Lucy learns the truth of her existence from her long-lost mom, Kit must rethink her wedding plans and Mimi, well let us just say that she loses something important. In the midst of all these troubles, Lucy finds time to write a ""poem"" that their male escort graciously puts to music. By the end of the film, ""Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"" is complete to everyone's enjoyment. The audience at the Eastgate Theater liked it so much there was a clap-along and then applause when Spears finished singing. Ah, kids.
The issues presented in ""Crossroads"" are a little mature for the average 10-year-old viewer. Teen pregnancy, rape, sex, running away from home and underage drinking are not something any parent would want to have their kid's role model participating in, but ""Crossroads"" has it all. In fact, it has too much of it. The movie is a constant roller coaster ride of emotions. It is like reliving four years of high school in two hours; a bit much for any viewer, regardless of age.
Following a box-office season lush with attractive, aesthetic and critically hailed offerings, many moviegoers return with those same expectations, only to leave the multiplex disappointed. Denzel Washington's latest forgettable outing serves as a perfect example' ""John Q"" is nothing but a smorgasbord of Hollywood clich??s and societal stereotypes.
Washington plays John Quincy Archibald (""John Q"" for short), a part-time factory worker plagued with increasing financial concerns. Set in blue-collar working America, John lives with his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) and young son Mike (Daniel E. Smith). Before Mike collapses at a baseball game due to heart disease, director Nick Cassavetes consumes much time molding the character into the most ambitious, innocent, caring youngster who ever walked this earth. It comes to no one's surprise, then, when his near-lifeless body is hooked up to myriad machines moments later.
The next predictable turn of events comes when Mr. and Mrs. Archibald face the hospital's administrator Ms. Payne and the chief surgeon (Anne Heche and James Woods, respectively). The couple is too poor to afford Mike's heart transplant, as Ms. Payne all but carves in slate for the parents to see, thus confirming the boy's ill fate.
From here on out, any character even slightly more economically stable resumes his or her unsympathetic attitude toward John Q's situation'save the hostages. John, exhausted from doing all he can to save his son, takes over the hospital's reigns with the help of a gun and demands that Mike's name be put on the top of the organ donor list. Being the considerate man he is, it does not take long to befriend everyone he holds at gunpoint'the hostages, especially, prove to be beneficial for his plight's resolution.
""John Q"" fails to both generate catharsis and provide fresh suspense, yet manages to improve slightly during the second act'an act too late for recovery, despite likable appearances by Robert Duvall and Ray Liotta. The film had the potential to become a perfect cinematic symbol and catalyst for this country's unjust health care system (Cassavettes wrote and filmed ""John Q"" for his daughter, who has had four heart operations to date). Instead, it sacrifices itself to a preachy undercurrent driven by exhausting lines like ""These hostages are human beings!"" and ""It's not 'goodbye,' it's 'see you later.'""
The film's poor merit is not Washington's fault, however. His performance once again strengthens his reputation as a believable actor (he is rightfully up for another Academy Award this March). Rather, the plot itself is lean in content with bland dialogue and very few surprises.
No doubt, John Q, like its B-movie neighbors currently on the market, leaves viewers regretting their lighter pockets and yearning for films like those of the past holiday season.
