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65
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Crossing Guard, The
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Sean Penn
Directed by: Sean Penn
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 16, 1995
DVD: July 3, 2001
Running Time: 111 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for sexuality and strong language
Starring Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright Penn, Piper Laurie, Richard Bradford, Priscilla Barnes, and David Baerwald
The Crossing Guard is a suspenseful action thriller about one man's unquenchable thirst for revenge. For six agonizing years, Freddy Gale(Nicholson) has waited for John Booth(Morse), the man jailed for a crime that destroyed Freddy's life. Now, Booth is out of prison and Freddy is giving him three days before he returns to even the score. (BV Entertainment)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Into the Wild The Pledge
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
But Mr. Penn mostly keeps a tight, impassioned grip on this material, preventing it from wandering too far afield. The influence of John Cassavetes is again clear in the characters' emotional sparring, which has energy and heart.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Hal Hinson
The current of bereavement never flags even when the dramatic flood becomes stagnant. In every scene, Penn seems to know precisely where the nugget of feeling is hidden, and he doesn't let up until its uncovered.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Some scenes ramble and go on too long, dialogue occasionally turns awkward and adolescent, and the film threatens to collapse from its own unchecked anger.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston give mature performances as the bereaved parents, and David Morse brings an offbeat touch to the basically decent man who traumatized their lives.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff(not credited)
His emphasis on acting is welcome at a time when shallow, smirkingly self-referential performances threaten to become the Hollywood norm, but the film's slack pacing and narrative indiscipline undermine its intensity.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Crossing Guard is a work of talent and, on occasion, raw passion, but it's also a willed exercise in purgative alienation (imagine "Death Wish" remade by Michelangelo Antonioni).
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The problem with The Crossing Guard is not the premise or core theme, but the manner in which director Sean Penn breathes life into the story. This film is horribly unfocused.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
What is good about this film is very good, but there are too many side trips, in both the plot and the emotions, for the film to draw us in fully.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
So while at times, Penn's film is moving and insightful about the way the heart survives tragedy, at other times it seems to have been made by a gifted schizophrenic who thinks that weird behavior is perfectly normal.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Bruce Diones
But ultimately all that melancholy stifles the characters.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The movie is repetitious in some ways and superficial in others. But though Penn doesn't always seem to know where he's going, his movie doesn't altogether miss its destination. [15 Nov 1995, Pg.05.D]
Empire Angie Errigo
Although there are some great moments (one for Nicholson recalling the toast scene of "Five Easy Pieces"), Penn's intentions lose their way.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Much of the film plays awkwardly, its tone veering undecidedly between volatile drama and contemplative psychological study.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The Crossing Guard, Penn's second film behind the camera, is a troubling, troublesome movie whose makeshift structure cannot contain the powerful flood of passions that he and his cast have poured into it.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The result is a curious mix - a picture that simultaneously seems meanderingly loose, affording the cast plenty of performing space, and suffocatingly tight, choking off the audience from any interpretive engagement.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Penn, who also wrote the script, burdens the story with so many self-indulgent side developments that he loses emotional drive and Freddy's desperate obsession gets lost in the shuffle.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
David Morse, who plays the driver, gives a relatively sharp and understated performance -- for me the only bearable thing in the movie.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Penn's film is very slow, sententious, ill-judged about the tensions he wants in long scenes. [18 Dec 1995, Pg.28]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
