VIDEO: The trailer for Crossing Over
Wayne Kramer's immigration melodrama fits into the glibly schematic, socially conscious multi-narrative niche usually filled by Paul Haggis. Aging Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent Max (Harrison Ford) represents the good people trapped by a broken system. Pretty illegal Mireya (Alice Braga) pricks his conscience when she's rounded up and begs him to help her child.
Meanwhile, Max's partner Hamid (Cliff Curtis) is looking forward to his dad's naturalization — if only his sister Zahra (Melody Khazae) didn't wear such short skirts. She's not like teenage Taslima (Summer Bishil), who wears a headscarf but gets in trouble by taking the 9/11 hijackers' side in her class and attracting FBI attention.
Attorney Denise (Ashley Judd) takes on Taslima's case while her adjudicator hubby, Cole (Ray Liotta), extorts sex from Aussie actress Claire (Alice Eve) in return for a green card. And so on. What a small town LA is, and how illustrative of Kramer's politics, while still offering hugs and tears and gratuitous nudity.
