Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Immigrants from around the world enter Los Angeles every day, with hopeful visions of a better life, but little notion of what that life may cost. Their desperate scenarios test the humanity of immigration enforcement officers. In Crossing Over, writer-director Wayne Kramer explores the allure of the American dream, and the reality that immigrants find – and create -- in 21st century L.A.
Crossing Over is a multi-strand immigrant drama in the vein of Crash, weaving together several storylines about people navigating the U.S. immigration system in Los Angeles. The plot is competent but episodic and uneven, with some threads feeling more contrived than others—particularly the honor killing storyline and the sex-for-papers subplot. The ensemble cast, which includes Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd, delivers serviceable performances, but no one is given enough screen time to make a deep impression, and the material doesn't push them to their limits. Cinematographically, the film is functional but unremarkable, offering standard Los Angeles urban visuals without any distinctive aesthetic choices. Novelty is low because the intersecting-lives-in-a-city format was already well-trodden by 2009, and Crossing Over adds little new to the immigration drama subgenre beyond surface diversity of storylines. The ending attempts emotional resolution across its threads but feels rushed and somewhat unsatisfying, failing to land with the weight the film's serious subject matter deserves.