The Crossing Guard
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.49 You Save: $8.50 (85%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.99 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Crossing Guard
Movie Review: Very Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm a big fan of the 2000 Penn-Nicholson drama "The Pledge". And when I heard about their earlier effort "The Crossing Guard". I got really excited and wanted to see it. But after a couple of views of this film I was terribly disappointed. "The Crossing Guard" is basically a revenge movie. Nicholson plays a jeweler obsessed with the death of his daughter 6 years ago and intent on gaining revenge on the drunk driver who killed her. However, the first scene between them is ridiculous! Nicholson comes into the drunk's trailer and the guy doesn't even act scared! He acts like he knows he's coming and he's not even surprised! Another part of the movie that just doesn't make sense is that if Jack's character is so obsessed with his daugther's death why does he spend all his time in strip clubs and making love to beautiful young girls? Penn never makes us care about any of his characters. Jack's character comes off as a selfish drunk playboy who just wants to get revenge for the hell of it. As the viewer I never felt compassion or understanding for his plight. He just seems like a guy who's out to get revenge to satisfy his own ego and not for his daughter. Just a very disappointing movie with a bad story and bad script. I guess even a legend like Nicholson can't save every movie he's in.Movie Review: The heart is in the right place.....
Summary: 2 Stars
....but the movie is overlong and clobbers you over the head with symbolism and metaphor. Also, not for one minute can you see Jack Nicholson OUTSIDE of Jack Nicholson and INSIDE the character he's playing, a common failing in recent Nicholson roles but more than usually apparent here. It's too bad, because his co-stars, especially David Morse, all give excellent performances. But the whole thing is turgid and FEELS contrived, though I'll grant that Sean Penn gave the story and the movie his best shot.Movie Review: Freedom is overrated.
Summary: 1 Stars
What happened in this movie to turn it from art house special to probably never making it to the television circuit? Let's begin with the title. It was never explained why it was called The Crossing Guard. Normally the title is used in films or it will express the overall emotion or theme of the film. In Penn's ditty, it did neither. There was even an embarrassing scene when Nicholson is driving by a crossing guard giving him a look going very slowly (in slo-motion) trying to build an emotional scene. The scene made no sense.
This will lead me to the next complaint. There was no consistency with this film. The characters were so underdeveloped that you really never had an idea what they wanted from this film or why they wanted to do this film. It felt like Nicholson was just repaying a favor for Penn. This was Nicholson's token must cry movie. I still have no clue why Anjelica Houston's character was so frigid. I did not understand any of these characters in this film. It was as if I never got to know them, yet somehow had to watch their life. Speaking of consistency, it would have been great to have some back-story in this film.
I thought that it started decently, but I would have liked to see what this family was like prior to the accident. I could have used a strong point-counterpoint. If the family were happy, going to the beach, in constant sunlight prior to the accident, then it would have provided a great start to the downfall after the accident. I would have also liked to see the relationship between Freddy and his daughter prior to the accident; it would have shed some better light as to why he was so avid on revenge and why Mary was easily able to put it behind her. Again, more consistency would have helped hold this film together easier.
Also, there really wasn't a story either. Using the rule of following a plot from point A to B to C, this film created the sense that I had jumped exactly at the B part. There was no A, half of the B was missing, and we were headed straight towards the C. That confused me greatly.
I have read some reviews for this film that have praised what Penn has done to this film and story. I have no clue if these critics have seen the same film or not.
Overall, this film was a jumbled mess of horror. It reminded me of walking into a child's room looking on the floor and seeing all sorts of toys, games, clothes, and stuffed animals just lying on the floor. I said this at the beginning of this review, and I will say it again, this film was a "mess".
Grade: * out of *****
Movie Review: Sean Penn should have stayed at Ridgemont High
Summary: 1 Stars
Other reviews give a good overview of the plot, such as it is. The acting by Jack Nicholson and David Morse is superb as always, but their best efforts can't save this disjointed, pretentious film full of existentialist garbage. This is one of those films that never seems to want to get to the point! I thought it appropriate at the end when Nicholson and Morse were crying together: I think they might have been glad this movie was finally over so they could then use their talents for a director who actually knows what to do with talent when he sees it. Sean Penn, go back to being surfer dude; it suits you better.Movie Review: No wonder Madonna dumped him
Summary: 1 Stars
Ugh! I made it through forty minutes when, having reached my limit of 1500 cliches per film, I gave up. What a shallow piece of tripe! I should have known at the very beginning when a woman who had apparently lost a family member to a traffic accident said, mournfully, that she could no longer get "close to anyone" for fear they would be "taken away." It goes downhill from there, folks, if such a thing can be imagined.