Movie Review: Crossing Over

Crossing Over **
Directed By: Wayne Kramer.
Written By: Wayne Kramer.
Starring: Harrison Ford (Max Brogan), Ray Liotta (Cole Frankel), Ashley Judd (Denise Frankel), Jim Sturgess (Gavin Kossef), Cliff Curtis (Hamid Baraheri), Summer Bishil (Taslima Jahangir), Alice Braga (Mireya Sanchez), Alice Eve (Claire Shepard), Jacqueline Obradors (Special Agent Phadkar), Justin Chon (Yong Kim), Melody Khazae (Zahra Baraheri), Merik Tadros (Farid Baraheri), Marshall Manesh (Sanjar Baraheri), Nina Nayebi (Minoo Baraheri), Naila Azad (Rokeya Jahangir), West Liang (Mark), Shelley Malil (Munshi Jahangir), Tim Chiou (Steve), Josh Gad (Howie), Jamen Nanthakumar (Abul Jahangir), Jaysha Patel (Jahanara Jahangir), Aramis Knight (Juan Sanchez), Leonardo Nam (Kwan).

Wayne Kramer’s Crossing Over tries to do for the immigration issue what Paul Haggis’ Crash tried (and to some succeeded) to do for modern day race relations. This is to say, that Kramer’s film tries to look at just about every possible issue and complication with immigration in modern day America. But the film fails. If you thought Crash was heavy handed, you won’t believe what Crossing Over does.

The movie tells multiple story lines, that of course, all intersect. Max Brogan (Harrison Ford) is an Immigration Agent, who feels sorry for one woman he busts at an illegal sweatshop, who is sent back to Mexico. She has a young son, who Brogan picks up and takes back to her parents in Mexico, only to discover that the young woman tried to sneak back into America as soon as she was dropped off, and hasn’t been heard from since. Brogan’s partner is Hamid Baraheri, an Iranian immigrant, whose family is stuck between modern day America, and old world Iran. Hamid’s teenage sister has fully embraced America, and is having an affair with her Mexican boss, which enrages her family. When she and her lover wind up dead, Brogan suspects that the family is involved. Then there is Taslima Jahangir (Summer Bishil), another Muslim immigrant who has lived in America since she was two, but is not an American citizen. When she writes a paper for class asking for understanding of the attackers on 9/11, she is flagged, and the FBI visits her home, and threatens her with deportation. She is a threat to national security. There is Gavin Kossef (Jim Sturgess), a British Jew, who is working at a Jewish School, and trying to get his music career off the ground. He has tried everything to get a Green Card, and failed, so now he’s trying to claim that he is a religious worker. His ex-girlfriend is is Claire Shepard (Alice Eve), an Australian would-be actress in America hoping for her big break. She isn’t allowed to work in America without a Green Card, which she tries to get legally and illegally, but cannot. Then she meets Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta), an officer who decides whose application has merit and whose doesn’t. They strike a deal – for two months, Claire will sleep with Cole whenever he calls, and in return, she’ll get a Green Card. Cole’s wife, Denise (Ashley Judd), works the other side as an immigration defense lawyer, who is trying to find an adoptive home for an African child, and thinks that perhaps she should do it. She also, coincidently, is the lawyer defending Taslima. Finally, there is Yong Kim (Justin Chon), a Korean immigrant teenager, who is about to be naturalized, but still hates his adopted country. He finds comfort in a gang, which lead him down a dangerous path.

If Kramer had tried to tackle just one or two of these storylines, he may have had a good movie. But by trying to tackle them all at once, he hasn’t given any of them the proper amount of time to develop into fully felt stories, with characters we like or are interested in. At just over two hours, the movie feels packed to the breaking point. What’s worse is that he doesn’t even seem to know which his strongest stories are. Why we spend so much time with Claire and her problems, along with Gavin, I have no idea, as they are not very interesting characters, and their stories lack the dramatic heft of the others. What’s worse is they seem to essentially tackle the same issue. And really, I think he could have folded the two Muslim storylines into one, and made a much more cohesive statement. As it stands, Taslima, who has a dramatic story, is shunted off to the background. We barely even see Ashley Judd and the African child she wants to adopt, and Yong Kim is similarly absent for long stretches at a time. If you are going to introduce complex issues, like the ones raised in the film, you need to fully deal with them. This film doesn’t.

Say what you want to about Crash, but it was at least able to plaster over some of its flaws with superb acting from an excellent cast. Although Kramer has assembled what appears to be a good cast here, they cannot save him. Harrison Ford appears to be bored in much of the movie. He almost seems to try and growl like Clint Eastwood at times. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Ford is so ineffective in a dramatic role here – after all, when was the last time he actually challenged himself as an actor? Liotta can play creepy in his sleep, and sadly, that appears to be what he is doing here. He is supposed to have a couple of highly dramatic scenes, but they all fall flat. Jim Sturgess is charming, sure, as Gavin, but I’m starting to think he only has one character in him. Newcomer Alice Eve certainly is gorgeous, and the camera loves her as Claire, but she is saddled with a character that doesn’t have much to do. Talented actors like Judd and Bishill are criminally underused, and most of the other actors never get a chance to show what they can do. The only one who leaves a lasting impression is Cliff Curtis, who makes us feel for his rather clichéd character – the man torn between his old country and his new one. We’ve seen this before, but somehow Curtis makes it feel a little more real.

Kramer is a talented writer/director, who after three films, I still feel I can’t get a handle on. His first film, The Cooler, was an excellent comedy/drama about a man with perpetual bad luck (William H. Macy) who is used by his casino owner boss (a wonderful Alec Baldwin, who finally received an Oscar nomination for his work) to bring bad luck to guys on a hot streak. His second film, Running Scared, was a bloody, grisly, disturbing, violent action film – one of the best of its kind this decade. And now Crossing Over is a more earnest drama that tries to look at a complex issue in 2 hours. It is Kramer’s bad luck that what probably seemed timely when it was written and film, has now become somewhat passé (seriously, does anyone but Lou Dobbs still give a crap about immigration with the financial crisis at the moment?), but nothing can forgive scenes of such heavy handedness like the climax at the naturalization ceremony, where most of the stories come to a head. There is very little about this movie that actually works. In isolated moments, we see what this film could have been had Kramer pared it down to its essentials, but overall the film is a mess.