User reviews

Sean Penn directs Jack Nicholson in this story of a man who swears to avenge his daughter's death by killing the drunk driver who struck her.

The movie opens up with Nicholson's character being a sleazy guy in a strip club and instantly we don't care very much about him, because he treats everyone like crap and doesn't really seem to have much depth. I'm all for unlikeable characters, but not when they're totally unredeemable and of no interest to the audience.

The rest of the plot seems very back-and-forth..."I'm going to kill him!" "Wait, I can't kill him." "I'm going to kill him!" "But I shouldn't kill him." When he finally makes up his mind the movie has already lost a lot of its momentum and derails way too early.

This film should have been good. It has a potentially great plot, and the first few scenes are very good. Then, it simply falls apart, and the main plot is basically ignored for much of the remainder of the movie. I also found the ending to be somewhat disappointing, although it was nice to see the focus back on the central storyline. The acting was certainly good, as you would expect in a Jack Nicholson movie, but the real tragedy is that David Morse was absolutely wasted. He was outstanding, but he rarely had anything to work with. What a disappointment.

I puzzle at those reviewers criticizing this film, which to my mind is a tour de force. Of course, I do volunteer work with dying folks and help train aspiring grief counselors to deal with the traumas that life all too often brings us. I can only assume that those who so quickly dismiss this powerful meditation on grief and remorse have yet to experience these real life emotions. Something by Schwarzenegger may be more to their taste, or one of the ubiquitous comic book recreations we encounter most summers with cardboard characters and pseudo emotions.

Sean Penn is plumbing much deeper regions of the human psyche, and doing so with actors of rare talent, fully capable of sharing with us their heart rending vulnerabilities. Few actors have the courage to go to the places these actors visit as they face suffering almost too great to bear. I'm reminded of the more recent Mystic River for which Sean Penn received an Academy award for best actor, a movie that explores equally traumatizing events. It was heartening to watch the joy with which this award was greeted by his fellow professionals who have long acknowledged this man's genius both in front of and behind the camera. This movie deserves a much wider audience of discriminating movie viewers.

I don`t think much of Sean Penn as an actor , his OTT performance in CASUALTIES OF WAR almost ruined the entire film for me and it wasn`t only that film that Penn yanked my chain , but despite this I can`t help noticing that he does have some talent behind the camera . He`s not flawless of course and his flaws are plain to see in his later film THE PLEDGE but I found THE CROSSING GUARD to be both very moody and very moving with some truly great acting on display . It does suffer from one deep flaw - Penn`s script

The problem is how the two protagonists are written . Freddy Gales daughter is killed by drunk driver John Booth so guess which character THE CROSSING GUARD portrays in a sympathetic light ? That`s right , the one who killed the girl ! I won`t go as far to say that Penn has painted Booth as the real victim , but why on earth does he paint Freddy as being such a harsh character ? He`s vulgar , always in a drunken state and when it comes to women his attitude is disgusting , in fact he`s a dirty old man and there`s nothing to prove it`s caused by the reaction to the death of his daughter . He is the opposite of Booth who is shown as a different character whose spell in prison has changed him into a profound man able to contribute to society . I see so the man bereaved by the criminal is actually the bad guy ? I`m not sure if this is what Penn is saying because the message is somewhat confused .

But despite this serious flaw I`d like to see more films directed by Sean Penn , just as long as the producer keeps him away from a word processor

When "The Crossing Guard" came out, it seemed like we'd heard for years that Sean Penn was worthless and just got in a bunch of fights. We turned out to be wrong. He's as great a director as an actor. The movie casts Jack Nicholson as Freddy Gale, out to get drunk driver John Booth (David Morse), who accidentally killed his daughter. Over the course of the movie, we see how Freddy's life is damaged not only by his daughter's death, but how he has never talked to anyone about this. Moreover, Freddy has never gone to his daughter's grave, but John has. Everything comes to a head at the end. Maybe I wouldn't call this the ultimate masterpiece, but it is worth seeing. Also starring Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright Penn and Piper Laurie.

Wonderfully talented actors, and a director I imagine talented as well. But both the actor's indulgence and the director indulging them is stultifying. Seemingly left to their own devices they create scenes with few sparks and much tedium. Nicholson, Morse, Huston and the other have ability to burn, yet they fizzle with false restraint.The actors are obviously improvising in many scenes yet their behavior often seems contrived and illogical. The director, attempts to create a reality of life with ancillary actors surrounding the leading characters,yet those scenes within scenes seem forced and intrusive. One should care about the three major characters caught up in a truly tragic event, yet it's generally "ho-hum" because they are caught "acting" in most every scene. With such great talents, this film was truly disappointing.

David Morse was excellent in the movie. Whenever he's on screen, the movie is worth watching. Jack Nicholson is his usual competent crazy guy. The subject makes the movie a Serious Topic movie, but it often has trouble staying on topic.

The movie itself is mostly very slow going, aside from Morse's scenes and the scene where Nicholson talks to his ex-wife about a dream. How many times do we need to see Nicholson's character hanging out at the strip club? Yes, we get the idea, he's turned into a sleazebag with no direction in his life.

The ending is what really saves the movie. Beyond that, no spoilers from me. Once you get the idea of how Nicholson acts in the strip club, you might as well fast-forward through the strip club scenes (unless you want to see the strippers do their thing), because they're all pretty much the same. Still, that ending is just so good the movie ends up feeling pretty decent.

Sean Penn wrote, co-produced and directed this strong drama about a conflicted Los Angeles businessman intent on nailing the drunk driver who killed his daughter. In the lead, Jack Nicholson is appropriately somber, displaying no over-the-top theatrics as he visits the parolee just sprung from jail, giving him three days of freedom before his death. Sub-plots detract from the main narrative, with Robin Wright a colorless love-interest for convict David Morse and Anjelica Huston lost in a confusingly-written role as Nicholson's ex-wife. Frequent trips to the local strip club muddy the focus of the piece, however the emotional showdown between the two men is wisely examined, heartfelt and exceptionally well-acted. **1/2 from ****

I am a huge Jack Nicholson fan, as a lot of people are. I saw this movie on the shelf with some older movies and decided to rent it. My expectations for anything that Jack Nicholson is in are pretty high. About 45 minutes into the movie, all expectations were dashed with no hope of getting any better. First, Sean Penn tries to pack as many bare chested ladies into the story as possible with little bearing on the story line. Robin Wright's performance is possibly the most over-dramatized role I have ever seen. Who believed that she fell so hard for an ex-convict in one night? The story was so melodramatic that I rolled my eyes more than once. Not even the great Jack Nicholson could save this movie as his role was overplayed and far, far below his standards. But you have to give Sean Penn credit for the ending. Of the dozens of choices he had for closing this film, he did pick the very worst one.

This movie about a man revenge story. For six agonizing years, Freddy Gale(Jack) has waited for John Booth (David Morse), The man jailed for a crime that smashed Freddy's life. Now, Booth is out of prison and Freddy's giving him three days before he returns to even the score !

It was a good film. Sean Penn did a great movie since dead man walking ! I cannot take my eyes off Jack Nicholson !David Morse (The Rock , The good son & The Green mile) is a very underrated actor. I shall recommend this for everyone who is a fan of Jack Nicholson. At least watch it once :-)

I've just read through a few other users' comments and noticed the 6.3 average given and am a little disappointed. I've just watched this film on a wet afternoon and found it extremely poetic, touching and very human.

The film is about two men, Nicholson and Morse, and their differing reactions to Morse's release from prison after six years for the manslaughter of Nicholson's daughter (drunk-driving).

All this film is concerned about is the two men. Both actors and director combine to portray detailed characters, who we can try to understand and identify with. There is no real action or plot, only character study and development, which is done well enough to constitute the film.

Of course there are flaws, others have pointed them out, but I wanted to stick up for this film, and I would recommend it if you're looking for something about people.

Mike Allison

A powerful and compelling story, filmed well and with some great performances.

Sean Penn seems to have managed to level the actors here, with David Morse, Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson putting in great performances and none of them stealing the scenes from the other. I found this very surprising as I expected Nicholson to flood the screen, as he so often does with such little difficulty.

However, the emotion between Huston and Nicholson in the latter half of the film during the coffee shop scene is so powerful to watch. Huston is such a wonderful actress, and Nicholson shows some emotional depth that I haven't seen before, or rather, not felt with his performance before.

The story is written and planned extremely well, with tension rising slowly and almost imperceptibly, until the final day. I found myself caught from the opening scenes of the counselling session cut with the drunken, partying Nicholson, right through to the pivotal moments of the main characters lives.

It is a fantastic way to address this subject. To examine it from both sides, and keep each side with its own sympathies and understandings. Cleverly your sympathies and hatred are swapped throughout the story.

I hope there's more to come like this.

Sean Penn can be a great actor, but with the Crossing Guard he displays a hit or miss attitude in the believability of his characters. It starts with a given for a gripping premise: a man torn completely psychologically from himself, Freddy (Jack Nicholson) finds out the man who killed his daughter in a drunk driving accident is released from prison after only six years. And, he'll go and kill him. Why he'll kill him, also a psychological pull, is that he's more so for his ex-wife Mary (Angelica Huston) than he is for himself. It's as much, if not more, about pride than it is about vengeance.

But through this premise, and the divide between self-destructive, drunk Freddy and the guilt-ridden, morose John Booth, Penn paints his characters sometimes into corners even when things become most intriguing. It's appropriate, I suppose, that Penn decided to dedicate the film to Charles Bukowski, as it probably alludes a lot to the moods of the characters in those books. But in putting across moods so much he almost forgets that his actors need believable circumstances to follow. One device, for example, is the whole "you got three days" angle Freddy pulls with John when he first confronts him in his trailer. There's also the sort of romance-in-limbo between John and another woman (Robin Wright Penn).

But what I didn't expect was that the actors almost don't, but ultimately do, rise above the contrivances of the script. There's even a great scene between Nicholson and Huston in a restaurant the night the murder is supposed to take place. Scenes like this, and a tear-ridden phone call from Freddy in a red-tinted room, are powerful and connect with the overall theme of loss in the film. Yet as a director Penn doesn't pull enough with his characters and mood to make it as compelling as it can be. He also relies on some fairly arty camera moves to make it more interesting, when they aren't needed anyway. Nicholson and Morse, meanwhile, are consummate pros who get into their characters completely (and for Nicholson especially it's almost a walk in the park, with his motivation less about the death of his daughter than it is about decay itself). But what is the audience to make of the mediocre decision to have Freddy get pulled over by the cops on his way to kill John, for drunk driving, and then go into a very far-fetched chase from them to catch up to John just so the irony can be placed in? It's not that the actors don't use some devices either at their disposal.

However in the case of the Crossing Guard, no matter how deeply felt Penn is to his material- leading up to a somewhat meaningful ending at the cemetery- he doesn't give it all to actors who demand more from him. I also think having seen this after seeing the Pledge, a brilliant drama with many of the same themes of redemption from another's death and loss from it all, rises so much more above similar ground in this picture. Not bad, but not great either- sort of an unfulfilled, if always watchable, middle-ground. B-

The film opens with a rather strange juxtaposition of two scenes. One features a group of grieving parents discussing how they have dealt with the loss of their children. The other features a topless stripper playing with fire. The Crossing Guard at its heart is how people deal with grief differently and the consequences those choices have for all. Some parents would prefer to pour their heart out. Others choose more destructive outlets, like patronize strip clubs. Jack Nicholson, the father of a girl killed by a drunk driver, spends some of his nights at strip clubs, while Anjelica Huston, the mother of that girl and Nicholson's ex-wife, spends time listening to those grief stricken parents pouring their hearts out. Like that opening juxtaposition the film's points are hit with all the nuance of a sledgehammer pounding in a nail.Therefore, little attention is paid to how Huston's character attempts to come to terms with the death of her child; instead, the focus is on how Nicholson destructively grieves for his daughter. Of course he wants revenge. And of course this quest for revenge, the film tells us, doesn't solve anything but only further eats away at him.

Nicholson, who still seems to be in Joker mode from his stint in that role in the Batman franchise, is as over the top as one might expect. The character he's saddled with is a difficult one to play to be sure, but Nicholson makes his character so over bearing and indignant that his presence soon becomes toxic. Instead of exploring his character's inner grief and psychology the film would rather just show his temper tantrums. David Morse, as the drunk driver who killed Nicholson's daughter, is, by contrast, and surprisingly, shown as some kind of repentant saint. He knows what he did, feels terrible about it, and tries to communicate it to an obstinate Nicholson. But in general Morse isn't given much to do other than stare into space stoically. Huston, however, it must be said is quite good even if the film doesn't really care about her and only utilizes her to show how crazy Nicholson's character has become.

The middle part of the film, where Nicholson parties with some strippers (including Three's Company's Priscilla Barnes) and Morse's character meets up with some bohemians, is a total bore. Another subplot of Morse falling in love with Robin Wright Penn adds nothing to the plot other than act as filler so the film can reach the standard 120 minute run time. Finally, the closing sequence of the film, which includes a chase (or in Nicholson's case a fast walk) through LA and ends with a kumbaya moment in a graveyard as the sun is slowly rising and the tedious score swelling, is totally ridiculous.

What's most disappointing here is that at its core The Crossing Guard could have been a good film. Sean Penn has directed other fine films (especially Into the Wild) and Nicholson, at least prior to the '90s, is a first-rate actor. But totally lacking nuance in performance and story and weighed down by a miserable second half and a hokey conclusion renders this film instead largely a failure.

Those posters who yearn for action, action, and yet more action should rate the movies they are most fond of and leave those with depth and feeling the hell alone. Guys you are about as deep as a puddle in the street.

Sean Penn did an incredible writing and directing job. He assembled an all-star cast and directed them with such skill that no one performance overshadows another, yet all of them are powerful and provocative. It's really great to see David Morse in yet another fine performance. This guy is totally under-rated. Jack Nicholson is, as always, at his finest. Anjelica Huston turns in another powerful performance. It was also good to see Priscilla Barnes after many long years doing a credible, no excellent, portrayal of the "bad girl" with a soul.

If you want to see a film that actually has some depth see this one.

Potentially powerful drama gently smolders more then it actually ignites. With a powerful script and an amazing foursome of actors The Crossing Guard should have been a contender for one of 1995's best drama's, though a few elements get in the way of achieving this.

Sean Penn's sophomore attempt behind the scenes yields striking promise, though some scenes flow in a rather hit and miss way. You can see him starting to come into his own as a director, though at times his direction feels a little too obvious. Surprisingly the script is quite decent as well, producing it's fair share of memorable lines.

Nicholson, as usual in a film where he is the star, commands and demands nearly all the attention, though at times the over-reaching nature of his talents do begin to seep through the emotional core of this revenge-minded redemption picture.

I have to take exception to what seems the be the majority view that this is an excellent film. The whole thing is contrived and phony. Throughout, there are innumerable points in the action where people do things and behave in ways completely contrary to what real people would do. The dialogue, too, is contrived. And one could have asked some more subtlety. As it is, it is clear from the get go that the vengeful father is the "bad" guy and the repentant killer is the "good" guy. Things are rarely so black and white. There is one scene further on in the film where Nicholson's character, in a conversation with his ex-wife, portrays some genuine grief and pain, but his portrayal up to that point completely belies that. And the many observations by viewers about the excessive and gratuitous nudity are on the mark. The completely contrived and unbelievable ending brings to mind Oscar Wilde's quote that "one would have to have a heart of stone not to dissolve into tears ...of laughter."

Sean Penn should stick to his day job of acting and stay away from writing and directing.