Crossroads (2002)

Starring: Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana
Director: Tamra Davis
Synopsis: Lightweight, predictable, music-filled comedy/drama follows three former best friends whose diverging paths reunite when they decide to take a cross-country road trip to Los Angeles to audition for a record company. (Paramount)
Runtime: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genres: Comedy, Music

• 1.5 of 4 by Roger Ebert
  I went to "Crossroads" expecting a glitzy bimbofest and got the bimbos but not the fest. Britney Spears' feature debut is curiously low-key and even sad. Yes, it pulls itself together occasionally for a musical number, but even those are so locked into the "reality" of the story that they don't break lose into fun.
  The movie opens with three eighth graders burying a box filled with symbols of their dreams of the future. Four years later, on high school graduation day, the girls are hardly on speaking terms, but they meet to dig up the box, tentatively renew their friendship, and find themselves driving to California in a convertible piloted by a hunk. more
• 2 of 4 by Ross Anthony
  It's a surprisingly well-acted film with some very good dialogue that brings to the surface the teen experience. Even the story begins strongly, but gets lost somewhere on the road between Alabama and LA. Britney fans should have a great time just watching Britney: dance (in her underwear), laugh with her friends, cry, read "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" as a poem. But, curiously, for a film of this type, Britney only sings one of her own songs (though "Overprotected" does run during the credits with some out-takes). more