Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Movie review - "Crossroads" (1986) **1/2

 A fantastic idea, brilliant music, decent cast but it doesn't quite work. It takes too long to get going - why not just have Joe Seneca admit who he is so they go on a roadtrip. Annoying little things like if Seneca is so poor why is he in such a nice nursing home? We probably should've seen Ralph Macchio's mother to give his life more context.

Macchio's skinny arms are distracting. I appreciate he obviously tried to learn how to play the guitar. Jami Gertz is a bit too young - she's 17 being this sort of hooker runaway. I wish she'd been black too. The film had the whiff of cultural appropriation about it. I guess that's the plot. And how else to fund it?

It never seems to click - the Macchio-Seneca relationship. It is better when Gertz is around; I missed her when she was gone. Maybe she should've sold her soul to the devil, that would've worked. Love the final duel with Steve Vai - though his life seems pretty good, hanging in a bar and playing guitar all the time. That's hell?

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