#taryn manning

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✨ a film for every year of my life ✨ | Crossroads (2002) dir. Tamra Davis

This time, we didn’t make any wishes for the future. We said goodbye to our past. Now, none of us have any idea where life’s gonna take us because what we have is now. And right now, we have each other.

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Taryn Manning

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THE BREED (2006)

Director: Nicholas Mastandrea Cinematography: Giulio Biccari

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Michelle Rodríguez as Nicki || The Breed (2006)

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Steve: I'm not mean. Name one mean thing I’ve ever done.

Mary: When we were younger, you convinced me eggs weren't real.

Steve: They're not.

Mary: Haha, very funny.

Steve: I'm serious. Didn't you hear?

Mary: No... what happened?

Steve: ... Why would you fall for this again?

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Taryn Manning photographed by Brie Childers

(2003)

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♡☆♡ crossroads twitter packscreen

reblog if you save ▪︎

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Taryn Manning photographed by Jeff Vespa, 2002

[theflashbackculture]

[fromthestacks]

One Day as a Lion

[adamwatchesmovies]

Crossroads (2002)

I don’t often go to Karaoke, but when I do, at least one of Britney Spears’ songs plays. She may have retired, but she’s still got fans. Her 2002 movie Crossroads? Not so much – most likely because even those who saw it in theaters have forgotten it. How could you not when the story is comprised entirely of overused ideas and every attempt to say something serious leaves the screen as quickly as possible?

Ten years ago, Lucy (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) made a promise to stay best friends. Unfortunately, growing up has broken them up. Kit is the most popular girl in school, Lucy is an introverted valedictorian whose father (Dan Aykroyd) is pushing towards becoming a doctor and Mimi doesn’t seem to have any future after becoming pregnant and then breaking up with her boyfriend. When the girls nonetheless open the memory box they swore to open on graduation night, they decide to rekindle their friendship with a trip to Los Angeles. How will they get there? By getting the enigmatic bad boy Ben (Anson Mount) to drive them.

Let me dig deeper into these characters and I’ll bet you'll figure out the movie’s biggest problem. Stuck-up Kit is engaged to Dylan, who proposed before leaving to study at UCLA. They haven’t seen each other in months so the trip is her opportunity to surprise him with a visit. Mimi wants to go to Los Angeles and enter a singing contest. If she wins, the prize money is her ticket to freedom. What’s going on with her pregnancy? We’ll get to that in a bit. Lucy has some minor musical inspirations but singing doesn’t fit in the bright future her father has planned for her. He’s very possessive of Lucy since her mother (Kim Cattrall) left them 16 years ago. As for Ben, he’s a musician who just recently got out of jail and there are rumors it was because he killed someone.

Let me spell out the clichés for you. Kit’s fiancé, Dylan? He’s cheating on her. That’s why he hasn’t been visiting. Ben? He’s no murderer. He was jailed but it was because he stood up to his abusive stepfather. Lucy’s mom? She doesn’t want anything to do with her daughter and has a whole new family. There’s a twist surrounding Mimi’s pregnancy. She wasn’t impregnated by the boyfriend she broke up with; she was raped after having too much to drink at a party. Who’s her baby's father? It’s Dylan. Don't worry, the film will have her miscarry before the end credits so the question of what she'll do with her baby is a non-issue. Kit now has two reasons to break up with her boyfriend. Poor Mimi isn’t only a victim; she’s got no chance in this movie because when she gets on stage, she turns into a mouse while Lucy has everyone cheering. The sexual assault means the movie has no reason to get Mimi back together with her boyfriend and while she’s technically single, there’s only one romantic prospect in Crossroads and he’s going to fall for Lucy. It only makes sense; he’s the musician and she’s the singer who doesn’t know she has what it takes to be a star.

I’m working my way to some compliments but first, I have to bring up another significant flaw in Crossroads. This movie was made for die-hard Britney Spears fans, which is to say teenage girls (and the boyfriends they’re dragging to the theater). As such, the film dips its toes into relevant/serious issues: teenage pregnancy, losing your virginity, finding your own way after graduation/growing up, broken familial bonds, friendships that fade over time, etc. The story by Spears (brought to life by Shonda Rhimes, who writes the screenplay) doesn’t address these matters. It gets worse the further along we get, with Mimi’s baby plot getting wrapped up so fast it’s insulting.

I don’t know whether to criticize or praise the film for trying to be more than a light-as-air musical road movie. By trying to be both, I don’t think it’ll leave many people satisfied… except maybe the aforementioned boyfriends forced to come along. There are a lot more shots of Britney Spears in lingerie than you’d expect.

So what’s good about this movie? Well, Spears. She’s not great (her accent slips in at least one scene) but I’m surprised she didn’t pursue acting further. She plays a teenager convincingly, particularly in the scenes where her character is emotionally vulnerable. She comes off as instantly likable and sweet. Crossroads doesn’t quite succeed with its dramatic ideas, but it occasionally hits the mark, particularly when it comes to Lucy’s plots and you have to praise its ambition. In the music department, the numbers are well-woven into the story and prove why Spears is one of the world's best-selling artists.

At best, Crossroads is “fine”. I can't give it any more than that, not with all those predictable storylines. It also isn’t memorable, except maybe in how shoddily it resolves the bulk of its stories. To its credit, I expected much worse. Thankfully, as far as popstar film vanity projects/vehicles go, this is no From Justin to Kelly. (October 9, 2024) 

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