I wasn't.
The movie's opening is actually kind of fun. One of the first scenes features Britney Spears dancing and singing in her underwear to Madonna's "Open Your Heart to Me."
"Hmm," I thought to myself. "It's a bit silly, but if the whole movie's like this, at least I'll be entertained." Unfortunately, in typical Britney style, the beginning is a tease that doesn't deliver. The rest of the movie is a long, slow ride to the bottom.
The biggest problem with the movie was the dull and predictable plot. Three young girlfriends bury a box filled with objects that symbolize their dreams and make a pact to dig it back up on the night of their high school graduation. But by the end of their senior year, all three have grown in completely different directions and are no longer friends.
Lucy (Britney Spears) is the pure and virginal class valedictorian, Kit (Zoe Saldana) is a pretty, popular snob and Mimi (Taryn Manning) is a down-and-out victim of teen pregnancy. On the night of their graduation, the three reunite to dig up the old box. Mimi has plans to go to California to audition for a record company and invites Lucy and Kit along. Kit decides to go so she can visit her fiancé at UCLA and Lucy tags along so she can go to Arizona to meet her mother, who left home when Lucy was a small girl. The three pals hitch a ride with a mysterious and sexy reputed killer named Ben (Anson Mount). As the group deals with serious issues on the cross-country trek, the three girls become best friends again, Lucy and Ben fall in love and each girl deals with her individual dreams. As if you couldn't have guessed.
There were a few places where I started to sit up and get interested. There is a potential sex scene and some dramatic moments. But the movie just shows you a little bit and then lets you imagine the rest. One of the steamier scenes shows Lucy in a tank top and jeans, gazing into her shirtless man's eyes. Then the camera zooms away and we next see her lying in bed asleep, with a t-shirt on. And when Lucy meets her mother, we only watch the introduction; we're left to piece the rest of the meeting together from Lucy's account to her friends. The movie flirts with serious issues like pregnancy and date rape, but focuses mainly on the cute little romance between Lucy and Ben.
Painfully boring plot aside, the rest of "Crossroads" is still pretty awful, but not as intolerable. The soundtrack, mostly recycled pop and some new Britney Spears stuff, isn't my kind of music but it works with the movie. Britney Spears isn't going to win any Oscars anytime soon, but I've definitely seen worse acting (anyone remember Denise Richards in "The World is Not Enough"?). It's obvious, though, that she's a singer first. It sometimes seems like she hurries through the speaking parts so she can throw herself into the singing. The other actors also do as best they can, given the asinine script: one of the movie's many sparkling moments has Ben throwing a temper tantrum and kicking up clouds of dust; another has Mimi running in, yelling "something bit my ass, y'all!"
"Crossroads" is neither serious quality, nor mindless entertainment. It tries to be both and falls tragically short in both departments. True, Britney looks hot, but if all you want is singing and gyrating hips, watch MTV. Trust me: the pain of watching this insipid plot unfold outweighs the pleasure of watching a blonde hottie bounce around in a tank top.