For the sake of full disclosure, I wrote this review while I was sitting in a meeting. For the sake of having a challenge, I wanted to start every sentence in this review with the name of the movie, for no discernible reason whatsoever. Feel free to call shenanigans on me at any time, as it helped me get through my meeting and to a larger extent, the film.
Crossover is a film that at least as of this writing, has no positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for some sort of reason, and I think that’s because of the razor sharp casting that was employed. Crossover includes Anthony Mackie, who was more recently seen as the drug dealing Frank in the Ryan Gosling Oscar-nominated film Half Nelson, but that’s the only praiseworthy casting decision in the film. Crossover includes a supporting performance by Wayne Brady (Whose Line is it Anyway?) who is supposed to be a greedy sports agent who is running an underground street basketball league involving several teams, however in playing a bad guy, he makes his appearance in Chappelle’s Show look really smart, because he’s simply not believable. Crossover has a female role played by Eva Pigford, who was more recently seen in America’s Next Top Model, so I guess if you can impress the scrutinizing eye of Tyra Banks, there’s nowhere to go but up. Crossover also features a few real life “streetballers”, including one whose name is “hot sauce”. Crossover doesn’t explain why this nickname was given, but I think it’s the second dumbest athletic nickname I’ve heard, save for those whose nickname is the first letter of their first name and the first three letters of the last, like A-Rod, T-Mac.
Crossover has very little mystery to it, the local boy is prized to go to a pseudo big-time university (in this case, the California University of Los Angeles) to avoid paying the school a license fee for using its name in a film, I’m sure. Crossover‘s main character almost loses the chance to make it big until his underachieving best friend tries to help him out in a pinch. Crossover is, as far as I can tell, borrowing from a few films here, the first being Flashdance, the second being An Officer and a Gentleman (for the star who tries to take a sleazy girl to the big time with him before finding out the hard truth), and the third being Top Gun (for the overt homosexual subtext, or maybe for the loud music and facial poses).
Audio
Crossover comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track that sounds pretty damn good and is heavy on the bass side of things, so the clear music and dialogue are definitely worthy of some sonic kudos.
Video
Crossover is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen viewing as it was originally intended. Crossover was mostly filmed in high definition, with some film shot camera stuff that REALLY sticks out in the transfer like a sore thumb, but everything looks good.
Special Features
Crossover has scant extras on its disc, the only thing being a commentary with director Preston Whitmore (The Walking Dead) and Wesley Jonathan (Roll Bounce, who plays the lead in the film. Crossover may lay the royal egg, but the commentary is actually pretty good, as Whitmore is passionate about the film and provides a lot of information from both technical and production angles, and pokes Jonathan along from time to time, and they exchange ribbing when it calls for it, resulting in a commentary that’s better than the film itself.
Final Thoughts
Crossover is the third film I’ve seen about a young kid trying to make it big despite the circumstances surrounding him and his family. Crossover‘s execution is by far the dumbest of the three (the other two being Gas and The Cookout), but it’s effort is worth saying “much love” to. Crossover is worth seeing on cable, do not rent or buy this piece of cinema unless you were in the cast or crew.
