Daniel Allan Carlin Movies

Multimillion-selling recording artist Britney Spears makes the transition to the big screen with this teen road trip romantic comedy, co-produced by the film branch of the entity that first brought her pop stardom, MTV. Crossroads casts Spears as Lucy, the shy valedictorian of her high school graduating class. On the night of their prom, Lucy and her once-close childhood friends -- the prim and proper Kit (Zoe Saldana) and the tomboyish, five-months-pregnant Mimi (Taryn Manning) -- reunite to dig up a time capsule they buried together as little girls. Mimi's about to make good on her childhood dreams; she's leaving their small Southern town for hopes of fame and fortune in Los Angeles. Though Lucy and Kit are reluctant to join her, they decide to tag along at the last minute, agreeing to be chauffeured by Mimi's just-out-of-jail friend, Ben (Anson Mount). As they trek across the country, plagued by car problems, unsanitary motels, and petty bickering, the three friends reveal meaningful secrets to each other, and Lucy begins to realize that the handsome, reticent Ben might just be the guy for her. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Sally Field goes the Roseanne route in Punchline. Field plays a housewife and mother who suddenly develops the urge to be a comedienne. Her comic instincts are on target, but her timing and delivery stinks. Tom Hanks, a stand-up comic with a few years' experience under his belt, offers to teach Field the ropes. As they get to know each other, Hanks and Field begin to pick up on each other's shortcomings; though Hanks has far more talent than Field, for example, he has a positively ruinous habit of expressing his deep-down dislike of everyone else in the world, and this frequently alienates his audience. Writer-director David Seltzer times Punchline like a good joke; he continually sets up for the expected, then pulls a last-minute fast one, keeping the film lively and unpredictable throughout. The supporting cast, coincidentally including future Roseanne star John Goodman, is uniformly superb. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi