# Crossing Over (film)
*Crossing Over* is a 2009 American ensemble drama film written and directed by Wayne Kramer that follows immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64865-CROSSING-OVER) • [2](https://ieltstoeflcenter.com/Download/Estelahat%20Films/Film/crossing%20over%20idioms.pdf) It stars [Harrison Ford](https://www.edgepedia.org/harrison-ford) as an [Immigration](https://www.edgepedia.org/immigration) and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, alongside [Ray Liotta](https://www.edgepedia.org/ray-liotta), Ashley Judd, Jim Sturgess, Cliff Curtis, Alice Braga, Alice Eve, Summer Bishil, and Justin Chon.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over) The film was distributed by The Weinstein Company, opened in limited release in the United States on February 27, 2009, and was both a critical and commercial failure.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64865-CROSSING-OVER) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/crossing-over/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Written and directed by | Wayne Kramer, an immigrant from South Africa; based on his 1995 short film of the same name[2](https://ieltstoeflcenter.com/Download/Estelahat%20Films/Film/crossing%20over%20idioms.pdf) |
| Lead role | Harrison Ford as Max Brogan, an ICE agent in Los Angeles[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over) |
| Release | Limited US release February 27, 2009; R rating; 113 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64865-CROSSING-OVER) |
| Production | The Weinstein Company, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and Movie Prose; producers Frank Marshall and Wayne Kramer[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64865-CROSSING-OVER) |
| Box office | Estimated $19,000,000 budget; $455,654 gross in the US and Canada; $3,676,533 worldwide[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 38 (generally unfavorable, 31 reviews); 15% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 107 reviews[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/crossing-over/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over) |
| Languages | English, Korean, Persian, Spanish, and Arabic[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The film is a multi-strand ensemble piece in the vein of *Crash*, *Babel*, and *Traffic*, intertwining the stories of immigrants, immigration officials, and lawyers in Los Angeles rather than telling a single linear narrative.[6](https://www.screendaily.com/crossing-over/4043288.article) An academic account of the film identifies seven groups of characters: a Mexican worker deported after a raid on a sweatshop, whose child is left behind; a middle-class Iranian family whose father is about to become a US citizen; a South Korean teenager about to be naturalized with his family who becomes involved with a gang; an aspiring Australian actor trying by any means to extend her visitor's visa into a green card; her friend, a young British singer hoping to stay in the country for his career; a Bangladeshi teenager from a long-term undocumented family, deported after the FBI finds her suspect of sympathizing with jihadist terrorists; and a young Nigerian girl, separated from her parents, awaiting relocation with a US family.[7](https://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10651/56283/Homenaje%20a%20Carames.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
**Central characters.** Harrison Ford plays Max Brogan, an ICE agent who witnesses daily the struggles of people trying to cross US borders, with [Cliff Curtis](https://www.edgepedia.org/cliff-curtis) as his Iranian-American partner Hamid Baraheri, who awaits his father's naturalization ceremony.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over) • [8](https://www.filmbankmedia.com/films/archive/details/2634-crossing-over) Ray Liotta plays Cole Frankel, a green card approval supervisor who forces an Australian model, Claire Shepard ([Alice Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/alice-eve)), into compromising positions in exchange for immigration approval; [Ashley Judd](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashley-judd) plays his wife Denise, a defense lawyer negotiating for a new family for an orphaned child.[8](https://www.filmbankmedia.com/films/archive/details/2634-crossing-over) Jim Sturgess plays Gavin Kossef, a young Jewish man who tries to use his unpracticed religion to secure a job at a faith school.[8](https://www.filmbankmedia.com/films/archive/details/2634-crossing-over) Summer Bishil plays Taslima Jahangir, a 15-year-old Muslim student arrested after writing a school essay suggesting the September 11 attackers were neither cowardly nor deranged.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/02/crossing-over-film-review) The murder of Baraheri's sister Zahra (Melody Khazae) and the deportation of the Mexican worker Mireya Sanchez (Alice Braga) lead Brogan to rethink the merits of his enforcement job.[6](https://www.screendaily.com/crossing-over/4043288.article)
## Production
Kramer pitched the film to producer Frank Marshall and handed in a script three weeks later, with no development process; Kramer said he wanted to show how the immigration system works from both the law enforcement side and the side of the immigrants, and that it was not a matter of "us versus them".[10](https://emanuellevy.com/interviews/crossing-over-by-wayne-kramer-3/) The film is a remake of Kramer's own 1995 short film of the same name, and Kramer himself is an immigrant from South Africa.[2](https://ieltstoeflcenter.com/Download/Estelahat%20Films/Film/crossing%20over%20idioms.pdf)
**Troubled post-production.** Shot in 2007, the film was delayed by rumored creative differences between Kramer and [The Weinstein Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-weinstein-company) over the final cut, and [Sean Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-penn)'s side character, a Border Patrol agent with a fateful encounter with a Mexican woman crossing illegally, was excised from the finished film.[6](https://www.screendaily.com/crossing-over/4043288.article) • [11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-09-et-crossing9-story.html) A contemporary review reported that three different versions of the film were screened for test audiences.[12](https://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Crossing-Over-3735.html) The crew included cinematographer James Whitaker, editor Arthur Coburn, and composer [Mark Isham](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-isham).[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over/cast-and-crew)
## Reception
*Crossing Over* received generally unfavorable reviews. Its Metascore of 38 was based on 31 critic reviews, of which 6 were positive, 15 mixed, and 10 negative, and its user score was 5.4 out of 10 from 18 ratings.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/crossing-over/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 15% Tomatometer from 107 reviews and a 49% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over) The site's critics consensus called the film "flagrant and heavy-handed about a situation that deserves more deliberate treatment", joining its characters with coincidences that strain believability.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over)
**The Crash comparison.** Reviewers repeatedly framed the film against [Paul Haggis](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-haggis)'s *[Crash](https://www.edgepedia.org/crash-2004-film)* (2004). The Guardian's Philip French described it as a "disappointing, highly contrived portmanteau movie" that attempts to do for would-be US immigrants what *Crash* did for race relations, while judging it compassionate, decent-minded, and highly watchable, though inferior to Thomas McCarthy's *The Visitor* on the same subject.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/02/crossing-over-film-review) The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday called it "the kind of movie that gives Hollywood liberalism a bad name", arguing its themes of assimilation, post-9/11 paranoia, and bureaucratic injustice had been portrayed more authentically in films such as *[Under the Same Moon](https://www.edgepedia.org/under-the-same-moon)*, *Persepolis*, *The Visitor*, and *Gran Torino*.[14](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2009/03/13/crossing-im-over-it/58647628-2cf2-4c29-9567-304aa8841642/) The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Farber called it a garish melodrama reproducing the most ham-fisted, polemical aspects of *Crash*.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/crossing-over/)
**Commercial performance.** Against an estimated $19 million budget, the film earned $77,370 on its opening weekend and $455,654 in the US and Canada, with $3,676,533 worldwide.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/) Screen Daily reported that the Weinstein Company's modest distribution strategy suggested low-key expectations, with the film opening in limited release and hoping to ride the marquee draw of Harrison Ford.[6](https://www.screendaily.com/crossing-over/4043288.article)
## References
1. [Crossing Over (2009), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64865-CROSSING-OVER)
2. [Crossing Over idioms and synopsis, IELTS TOEFL Center](https://ieltstoeflcenter.com/Download/Estelahat%20Films/Film/crossing%20over%20idioms.pdf)
3. [Crossing Over, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over)
4. [Crossing Over Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/crossing-over/)
5. [Crossing Over (2009), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/)
6. [Crossing Over review, Screen Daily (Tim Grierson, 2009)](https://www.screendaily.com/crossing-over/4043288.article)
7. [Homenaje a Carames (academic volume including analysis of Crossing Over), Universidad de Oviedo repository](https://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10651/56283/Homenaje%20a%20Carames.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
8. [Crossing Over, Filmbankmedia synopsis](https://www.filmbankmedia.com/films/archive/details/2634-crossing-over)
9. [Crossing Over review, The Guardian (Philip French, 2009)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/02/crossing-over-film-review)
10. [Crossing Over (2009): Interview with Director Wayne Kramer, Emanuel Levy](https://emanuellevy.com/interviews/crossing-over-by-wayne-kramer-3/)
11. [A 'Crash' course on immigration, Los Angeles Times (2007)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-09-et-crossing9-story.html)
12. [Crossing Over review, CinemaBlend (Katey Rich)](https://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Crossing-Over-3735.html)
13. [Crossing Over cast and crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_over/cast-and-crew)
14. ['Crossing': I'm Over It, The Washington Post (Ann Hornaday, 2009)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2009/03/13/crossing-im-over-it/58647628-2cf2-4c29-9567-304aa8841642/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2005–2009 films › Released 2008 to 2009*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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