The Britney Spears movie "Crossroads," wasn't high on my list of must-see films. Then my editor asked if I could see the movie and assess the whole "Britney phenomenon." Thinking that it would be fun to bash the pop singer turned actress, I agreed.

Then I realized a few things.

I was going to have to fork over cash to see this film. I was going to add to the box-office sales. I also realized I had to find someone to go with me. No one I know likes Britney enough to willingly endure 90 minutes of Britney-filled, um, fun. I resorted to bribery to get a friend to come along.

One of the most interesting parts of the movie was seeing who was in the theater. Teenage girls filled most of the seats, with a few annoyed-looking boyfriends thrown in the mix.

While only a few of the girls were under the age of 10, seeing them there at all depressed me. These little girls look up to Britney, and they were about to see her in a PG-13 film, taking part in things she shouldn't. That's one of the things that bothers me most about Britney: She's treated like a role model. She says she's a "good girl." Supposedly, the risque clothes, provocative dancing and suggestive songs are part of the act. Well, the act is what makes her famous. It's what little girls see and want to imitate.

The opening scene of "Crossroads" introduces us to three young girls who are burying a box of dreams and vowing to unearth it on graduation night. Next, we see Britney dancing and singing in her underwear. Hey, I can watch this on MTV for free!The three girls are graduating. Over time, they've grown apart because of their different personalities. Lucy (Spears) is the wholesome, straight-A nerd. Her former friends are Kit (Zoe Saldana), the prissy, popular girl, and Mimi (Taryn Manning), the pregnant girl from the wrong side of town.

Long live stereotypes!After they dig up their box, we learn that Mimi is going to Los Angeles with the mysterious musician, Ben (Anson Mount), to audition for a record contract. Kit goes to see her boyfriend, and Lucy tags along to find her long-lost mother.

The film is totally formulaic. The girls sing and bond the whole time. An attraction between Lucy and Ben grows. They talk about alcohol, weight, sex, following your dreams, blah, blah, blah ...

Compared to many teenage films, this one is pretty tame when it comes to the gross-out jokes. The infamous sex scene between Lucy and Ben is less suggestive than Spear's "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know," sex-on-the-beach video.

The acting is pretty sappy, but not just Britney's. The girls slip in and out of their Georgia accents. Sometimes I couldn't understand Manning at all.

The thing that makes this teeny-bopper movie worse than most is Britney's presence. She's not an actress or even a singer. She's a persona, an image. I consider her a product. Her goal is to sell something, be it music or soda or a movie. There is a scene where Lucy reads a poem to Ben, who later sets it to music she sings in the finale. Gee, it just happens to be her latest single, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," now available on the album "Britney."

And do you know what the audience did when she read her poem? We laughed. The theater was full of girls who knew this was ridiculous. If it hadn't been Britney (and if the song wasn't quite so annoyingly vapid), we probably wouldn't have found the scene so hilarious.

If I felt like Britney wasn't always trying to sell something, perhaps I could be more tolerant. But at this point, I don't think she'll ever be considered a respectable musician or actress. She might as well keep hawking whatever product she can get her face on.

Grade for Crossroads: C-

Grade for Spears:

Is there anything lower than an F?