Review of The Crossing Guard (1995) by Cameron B — 24 Jan 2016

Kind of a mixed bag when it comes to this movie, honestly. While I do think Sean Penn had a handle on mood and how to just let actors be actors, I just don't think that he had as much of a handle on storytelling as he might have believed.

This, of course, can all be excused by the fact that, I believe, this was Sean Penn's first feature film as a director. I just don't think the film ever really comes together as well as it should as it relates to narrative, even though it does feature excellent performances from Jack Nicholson, David Morse and Anjelica Huston.

I think the approach of telling the story from both sides, from Freddy's inability to properly grieve from his daughter's death at the hand of a drunk driver and John's guilt in having killed a little girl due to his irresponsibility, is a really smart choice.

I'm not saying that John's guilt of killing this girl is greater than Freddy's grief, but I think it was very important for the film to also show John's side, just to show that he is, in fact, a human with very serious guilt issues about what he did and that's he's not a monster.

So the film, essentially, deals with Freddy's and John's own separate journeys for acceptance, love, what have you in the days leading up to when Freddy plans to kill John. The problem in Freddy's side of the film is that his grieving process is pretty much exactly what you'd expect, he drinks away his sorrows, has sex with strippers half his age.

I'm not saying that it wasn't interesting, I'm just saying that it's what you expect so, therefore, it isn't really as satisfying as it might be. The best part of Freddy's moments are when he interacts with his now ex-wife, in Anjelica Huston.

These are the scenes that are a little more thoughtful and explores how a seemingly great couple can disintegrate after such a horrific experience. Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston are great here and, really, these are some of the best scenes of the film.

Jack's scenes with David Morse are also a highlight. Though, to be fair, they only have a couple of them. John's half of the film is a little more interesting than Freddy's but I think that, again, they go the route that is expected instead of throwing in a curveball.

I will admit that the last several minutes of the film are very poignant and well-done. It's just that the rest of the film doesn't come together that well, even though the elements are there.

This still ends up being a good movie, but one that you would think would be better given the quality of acting that is involved. I don't think there's anything that you really need to see here in terms of narrative, but if you want to see great acting then this is highly recommended, can't really recommend it for anything else.