Metacritic Film

Crossover

Starring Anthony Mackie, Wesley Jonathan, Wayne Brady, Alecia Jai Fears, Kristen Wilson, Michael Kimbrew, and Shelli Boone

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content and some language

Sony Pictures Releasing
Action  |  Drama
95 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters September 1, 2006

Crossover is a gripping urban drama set against the thrilling world of streetball. The story follows two young hopefuls, Tech (Mackie) and Cruise (Jonathan), who must bring every move they have to the floor to unseat the reigning champions from the throne they have held for far too long. (Sony)

WRITTEN BY
Preston A. Whitmore II

DIRECTED BY
Preston A. Whitmore II

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

30 / 100

Critic Reviews

50 Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The reason basketball is such a great spectator sport isn't because of its opportunities for razzle-dazzle editing and direction. It's because the game is kinetic enough without all that swoosh/zap/wham business.
50 The New York Times Nathan Lee
A decent example of Sidekick Cinema: a movie to glance up at from time to time while you download ring tones or text-message your friends.
50 The Hollywood Reporter
While director-screenwriter Preston A. Whitmore II's film is to be admired for its proponing the values of a higher education over the dream of a career in the NBA, its dialogue, characterizations and situations rarely transcend the level of cliche.
50 Baltimore Sun
A film made by people with more heart than skill.
42 Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
Crossover skimps on court-level pyrotechnics (we get a game in the beginning and, of course, a big game at the end, and that's about it) in favor of dry urban melodrama.
40 LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson
As they pursue their goals, no movie cliché is left unturned. The streetball scenes offer some nifty trick plays, but the rest of Crossover features poorly dressed sets, cheap-looking costumes and locations, and silly histrionics.
40 Washington Post
Just a few more tweaks and Crossover could have been something special -- a truly terrible movie to savor for the ages. But nooo, this street ball movie -- has to settle for middle-of-the-road badness.
38 Boston Globe
Earnest and predictable, Crossover deserves more than the horselaughs that will probably greet it in theaters -- but not a lot more. The movie is harmless, which is both its strength and its weakness.
38 Premiere Bartley Morrisroe
The streetball scenes, much like the plot, have a few high points but never hit their stride.
38 USA Today
Much as they would like it to, basketball can't save the youthful inner-city players here. Nor does the ultra-fast-paced street version of the sport save this movie from predictability and tedium.
38 New York Daily News
So badly conceived and executed, its good intentions don't help.
38 TV Guide
Astonishingly inept drama.
30 Variety
Overshadowed by vastly superior sports movies like Invincible and hardly disguising its low-budget sources, pic isn't in any kind of shape for the theatrical leagues.
25 San Francisco Chronicle
Crossover has one redeeming quality: a heart that's in the right place. It's a bad movie with a good message -- but does anyone really want to pay $10 for an ABC After School Special version of "He Got Game"?
25 The Onion (A.V. Club)
Crossover doesn't have the competence to make it exciting or the desire to explore what's really at stake for these players.
25 Philadelphia Inquirer
A vast disappointment.
20 Austin Chronicle
Tries hard but never makes the leap.
20 Chicago Reader
A real air ball, this lethargic drama by Preston A. Whitmore II is so poorly scripted that most of the major plot developments occur offscreen.
12 New York Post Kyle Smith
The entire movie seems to have about the same budget as a 30-second sneaker commercial. I'm not talking Nike, either. I'm talking a commercial for Steve's Second-Hand Sneaker World and Falafel Emporium that you'd see on NY1 News at 3:08 a.m.

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