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Movies / Upcoming / Crossing Over
Crossing Over

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Crossing Over (2009)

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Reviews Counted:102

Fresh:16

Rotten:86

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: Crossing Over is flagrant and heavy-handed about a situation that deserves more deliberate treatment, and joins its characters with coincidences that strain believability.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $402,469

Synopsis: The struggle to achieve resident alien status, or gain full-blown citizenship in the United States, provides some thought-provoking material in this feature from director Wayne Kramer(THE COOLER).... The struggle to achieve resident alien status, or gain full-blown citizenship in the United States, provides some thought-provoking material in this feature from director Wayne Kramer(THE COOLER). CROSSING OVER is an ensemble piece that contains many overlapping storylines, most of which revolve around Max Brogan (Harrison Ford), a law enforcement official who specializes in arresting people who break stringent immigration laws. Joining Ford is Ray Liotta, who plays a corrupt immigration official who forces a wannabe Australian actress (Alice Eve) to sleep with him in exchange for a green card. The film also focuses on the rigorous guidelines laid down in post-9/11 America, with Kramer detailing the shocking maltreatment of a teenage girl who faces deportation after giving a misguided high school presentation on terrorism. These tales, and several others, all combine to present an intricate overview of the desperate and often overwhelmingly sad lengths people will go to so they can remain in the United States. Kramer’s film closely mirrors other harrowing ensemble pieces such as Paul Haggis’s CRASH (2004) and Richard Linklater’s FAST FOOD NATION (2006). CROSSING OVER carefully presents many different sides of this complicated issue and also examines how coincidence and good fortune can play a part in achieving resident status. Ford is perfectly cast as the downcast lead character who battles with the moral and ethical ramifications of his job, and frequently gets too close to the people he is required to prosecute. Kramer skillfully interweaves each tale and allows just enough screen time to each of his characters, with Cliff Curtis leading the excellent supporting cast by playing an Iranian-American immigration official whose life is irrevocably altered by a series of tragic personal and professional occurrences. [More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Cliff Curtis

Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Cliff Curtis, Jim Sturgess, Alice Eve, Alice Braga, Justin Chon, Summer Bishil

Director: Wayne Kramer

Director: Wayne Kramer
Screenwriter: Wayne Kramer
Producer: Frank Marshall, Wayne Kramer, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Weinstein Company

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Reviews for Crossing Over

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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There are good performances here, but the sheer number dilutes their power, leaving the movie a bit of a mess.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
03/25/09
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic

Crossing Over has been surrounded by controversy ever since it wrapped up shooting way back in 2007...

Full Review Source: AskMen.com | comment Comment
03/13/09
David Nusair
David Nusair
AskMen.com

It's a film about the issues, but it's a film about people.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/02/09
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons
At the Movies

I think this is really an exceptional film. I didn't find really a false note in the behavior of any of these characters.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/02/09
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies

Tied together with endless, flattening shots of L.A.'s cloverleaf freeways, Crossing Over is often simplistic and occasionally lugubrious, but it's rarely boring.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
03/02/09
Vadim Rizov
Vadim Rizov
AV Club

A well-intentioned but ham-handed exploration of U.S. immigration policies, this movie's message is undermined by its cardboard characters and clunky script.

Full Review Source: Beliefnet | comment Comment
03/05/09
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Beliefnet

It's Crossing Over -- or as we call it at my desk, Crash: Special Victims Unit.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
03/12/09
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

The best you can say is that Kramer is ambitious enough to present the problem. Yet he's too unsophisticated to tear off any painful societal scabs or materially add to the debate.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
02/04/09
Mark Keizer
Mark Keizer
Boxoffice Magazine

While the film certainly has some viable, provocative points to make about the US's attitudes to migrants and the labyrinthine horrors of getting citizenship, it lacks the subtlety and eloquence it really needs to succeed.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/31/09
Daniel Etherington
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film

[Crossing Over] has a paint-by-numbers quality.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/20/09
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

Crossing Over seems to strain, with too many characters, too many story strands and too much of an effort to cover the bases.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/12/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The characters don't relate; they trade expedient expository nuggets, when they're not speechifying. A surfeit of coincidence spoils our empathy. And when a character%u2014any character%u2014says "You doubt the veracity of my heart," you have to doubt the

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/12/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

It's a powerful opening to a movie that rapidly fractures into a hodgepodge of interlocking subplots showcasing immigration woes.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
03/02/09
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

About as airless and preachy as movies come.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
03/06/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Cinematical

A sub-par knockoff of Paul Haggis' "Crash," writer/ director Wayne Kramer's L.A.-based dramatic tapestry is a threadbare yawner.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
02/28/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Characters are stretched thin with only the most overstuffed dialogue to express themselves. As a result, the film is airless and petrified.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/06/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

This politically-minded ensemble drama's obvious attempts at being Traffic or Crash barely gets out of the garage before it stalls in neutral.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
02/25/09
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

Intense immigration drama doesn't live up to its intentions.

Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment Comment
02/27/09
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Common Sense Media

Some stories are more convincing than others in this sprawling blend of thriller, melodrama and social drama.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
07/31/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

Writer-director Wayne Kramer insists on trying to tell us all the way through what we should feel. Yet, by the end, it's not clear what he's trying to say: are U.S. immigration laws unfair, unnecessary or badly enforced?

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
07/31/09
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Crossing Over

June 08, 2009: RT on DVD: Gran Torino, Crossing Over, Nobel Son Exclusive Look
This week on DVD, celebrate the big screen heroics of two former movie heroes (Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, Harrison Ford in Crossing Over) or watch Clive Owen and Naomi Watts... More...

March 01, 2009: Harrison Ford does a very different sort of reluctant, discombobulated thinking man's action hero this time around, a kinder, gentler immigration cop not into raids, and mocked by his colleagues as an INS girlie guy. Opens in new window
More...

February 26, 2009: Critics Consensus: Jonas Brothers Fizzles
This week at the movies, we've got teenybop pop (Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience, starring Jonas Brothers) and a video game adaptation (Street Fighter: The Legend of... More...

November 26, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
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