Line #53 Film/Crossroads2002


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Crossroads_poster_6762.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:220:All they have is each other]]
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4	->''"This time, we didn't make any wishes for the future. We said goodbye to our past. Now, none of us has any idea where life's gonna take us, 'cause what we have is now. And right now, we have each other..."''
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6	''Crossroads'' is a 2002 comedy-drama roadtrip film directed by Creator/TamraDavis and starring Music/BritneySpears, Creator/ZoeSaldana and Creator/TarynManning (before ''Film/EightMile'').
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8	Written by Creator/ShondaRhimes, the film tells the coming of age story of Lucy (Spears) and her childhood best friends Kit (Saldana) and Mimi (Manning) as they take a cross-country road trip, finding themselves and their friendship in the process. The film also stars Creator/DanAykroyd as Lucy's father, Creator/KimCattrall as Lucy's mother, and Creator/AnsonMount (''Film/AllTheBoysLoveMandyLane'') as Ben.
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10	The script for the film was developed specifically for the singer by herself and her team. Filming began in March 2001, taking place in Spears' home state, Louisiana, as well as Los Angeles, California. Britney wanted "a movie with meaning which didn't talk down to her peers and dealt with real issues" and no one can doubt it deals with real issues, pregnancy, cheating, running away, runaway parents, abusive parents to name a few. It's also subtly written enough that her younger fans around the time could understand it.
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12	Not to be confused with the 1986 UrbanFantasy film [[Film/{{Crossroads}} of the same name]] starring Creator/RalphMacchio.
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14	----
15	!Tropes:
16	* AbusiveParents: Lucy's dad smothers her, her mother abandoned her, and Kit's mother criticised her for her appearance as a child and now resents her. Ben also takes his stepsister away from her physically abusive father. [[spoiler:To be fair to Lucy's father, he ultimately accepts her decision to pursue a musical career and is shown to be proud of her at her audition]].
17	%% * AlphaBitch: Kit, especially at the beginning.
18	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The cross-country trip seems to take ''far'' longer than it really should to get from Georgia to the west coast. For instance, the girls travel for two and a half days from morning until night (indicated by nighttime scenes set at two separate motels) before they stop within walking distance of [[TheBigEasy New Orleans' French Quarter]] when the car suffers a breakdown. Even coming from as far east as Savannah, a trip of that length can be made in about 10-12 hours depending on the number of stops.
19	%% * AtTheCrossroads: And HOW x 4!
20	* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Prom queen Kit, Lucy the valedictorian and Mimi, who can throw a mean right hook.
21	* BeYourself: An idea subtly played into the movie; [[spoiler:Lucy in particular learns to stop living her life for her father and pursue her own musical ambitions rather than follow his plan for her]].
22	* BerserkButton: you don't touch Ben's car!
23	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Lucy]], [[SassyBlackWoman Kit]] and [[FieryRedhead Mimi]].
24	* CluelessAesop: All that stuff about sex, its dangers, and its consequences ends up falling apart because it's a PG-13 film aimed at tweens, and the characters end up dodging all the worst possibilities. [[spoiler:Mimi's ConvenientMiscarriage is probably the most infamous one]].
25	%%* ComingOfAgeStory: And how for all those involved. {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by the song title: "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman".
26	* CannotSpitItOut: Lucy's father being so closed off when it comes to her mother going AWOL kicks off the plot.
27	* ConvenientMiscarriage: [[spoiler:Mimi has this after they get to LA.]]
28	* ColorCodedCharacters: Kit is in pink and purple, Mimi is in blue and green, Lucy is in yellow and white, and Ben is in brown and grey.
29	* DramaQueen: Kit. She is constituted of 60% drama and 40% sass.
30	* EasterEgg: The DVD features Easter eggs in the form of diary entries/talking to yourself moments for Lucy and Ben, which are used as trailers for the movie.
31	* EmptyNest: Why Lucy's father didn't want her to leave...
32	* {{Fanservice}}: Britney in her underwear, but also all of her singing scenes have some fanservice-y outfits. It has been suggested that her midriff should get its own credit in the film.
33	* FollowYourHeart: Worked in with the Lucy plot.
34	* ForYourOwnGood: Lucy feels forced to become a doctor, because her father thinks it's best for her.
35	%%* FourPhilosophyEnsemble:
36	%%** Lucy as the Realist
37	%%** Ben as Apathetic
38	%%** Mimi as Optimistic
39	%%** Kit as Conflicted
40	%% * FourTemperamentEnsemble:
41	%%** Mimi is Sanguine
42	%%** Kit is Choleric
43	%%** Lucy is Melancholic
44	%%** Ben is Phlegmatic
45	* GirlishPigtails: Mimi's favourite hair style.
46	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: The possibility of an abortion never comes up, not even by implication, as a possible solution to the fact that both Mimi and her deadbeat boyfriend (even before [[spoiler:it's established that the boyfriend isn't the father and the real father is Kit's cheating fiancé]]) are obviously completely financially and emotionally unprepared for parenthood. [[spoiler:The whole thing is eventually rendered moot however, when Mimi suffers a ConvenientMiscarriage]].
47	* GoGetterGirl: Subverted with Lucy. Her father raised her to be this, in order for her to become a doctor. We later find out she just wants to enjoy life and pursue music.
48	* [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hoist by Her Own Petard]]: Kit's mom sent her to fat camp to become thinner but she now resents that her daughter is more beautiful than she is.
49	* IJustWantToBeFree: Lucy mentions this being her reason for running away the first time and her reason for asking to leave the second time.
50	* InterruptedIntimacy: Lucy and Ben in their almost kiss in the woods, interrupted hilariously by Mimi's screaming about something that bit her in the ass. HilarityEnsues.
51	* MayDecemberRomance: Played with the Lucy-Ben plot. Lucy is 18 and while Ben isn’t that much older, he can legally enter bars. He was also likely tried as an adult for his “crime” so he also has a criminal record.
52	* AMinorKidroduction: In the movie's prologue Lucy, Kit and Mimi are shown as 10-year-olds.
53	* MissingMom: Lucy’s
54	* [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You]]: Lucy thinks her mom had this, but [[spoiler:it is bitterly subverted when the woman bluntly tells her daughter she left because she just didn't want her]].
55	* MyBelovedSmother: Kit's mom and Lucy's dad each try to control their daughters' lives.
56	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ben went to jail for taking his abused little step-sister across state lines (which he legally couldn't do as she wasn't related to him).
57	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Because having two Aesops is not enough, this is the most Anvilicious Aesop nevertheless.
58	* ParentsAsPeople: All the parents are flawed, but human.
59	* PermaStubble: Ben. Part of his TroubledButCute [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boy]] appeal.
60	%% * PluckyGirl: Mimi.
61	* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: The cause of Mimi's pregnancy, and Kit's fiance is her rapist]]. Lucy is manhandled at a bar until Ben steps in, which comes just before [[spoiler: Mimi's admission]].
62	%% * RebelliousSpirit: Mimi is depicted as being this at school.
63	* RoadTripPlot: Mimi is going to Los Angeles for a singing audition, and Kit and Lucy join so that Kit can see her fiancé in L.A. and Lucy can visit her long-lost mother in Arizona.
64	* SexAsRiteOfPassage: TheMovie. Lucy is the only virgin amongst the three girls in the beginning and there's never any doubt that her coming of age story is going to involve her losing it. Lucy's lab partner insists that a guy going to college a virgin will be ostracized.
65	* ShaggyDogStory: All three girls set out with a specific goal in mind; Lucy to reconnect with her mother who abandoned her, Kit to visit her fiance and Mimi to pursue a singing career. [[spoiler: Lucy's mother tells her she was a mistake and never wanted her, Kit discovers her fiancé cheating and not only is Mimi upstaged by Lucy's superior voice, but she also loses her baby (although Mimi chose to give her audition to Lucy as she recognised that her friend was just the better singer)]]
66	* SlumberParty: The girls' night at the hotel turns into this, shown in a heartwarming montage.
67	* StaircaseTumble: How Mimi [[spoiler:loses her baby]].
68	* {{Tagline}}:
69	** Dreams change. Friends are forever.
70	** What we have is now. And right now, we have each other
71	%% * TeenPregnancy: Mimi.
72	%% * TravelMontage: Being a travel movie, yes.
73	* TroubledButCute: Ben. Has the bad boy act down to the obligatory vintage convertible, tattoos, man jewelry, and PermaStubble. In fact, he is actually a very nice guy.
74	%% * TownGirls: Kit is girly, Mimi is a tomboy, Lucy is inbetween.
75	* TwoRoadsBeforeYou: Lucy-Doctor or Singer, Mimi + Kit-return to hometown or settle in LA with Lucy, Ben-continue relationship with Lucy or leave her because she's younger than him.
76	* UptownGirl: Lucy and Ben's relationship is depicted as this. Not exactly played straight, seeing how she is middle class at most, and he is from a trailer park.
77	* TheUnfavourite: Straight as you can get since Carolyne tells Lucy to her face that she never wanted to have her and that she was a mistake, abandoning Lucy when she was only three years old and the women still doesn't want her. Telling Lucy she only had her because her father made her do it. She later had two sons to another man who she did not leave.
78	* WallBangHer: Teased in Lucy and Ben's sex scene. A little odd, seeing how it's her first time. Up against a glass wall.
79	* WaxingLyrical: Seeing how this is Britney's movie, it's hardly surprising that her music is shoved in every corner of the movie. There is a scene where Lucy reads to Ben one of her "poems", ''I'm not a girl''.
80	* WrenchWench: Lucy's father is a mechanic with his own shop, so it isn't surprising that she has shades of this.
81	----
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83	--->''All I need is time, a moment that is mine, so while I'm in between,''\

Context Film / Crossroads2002