Crossing Over has good intentions, but unfortunately bad timing. Immigration issues might have been all the rage last year, but now all we can talk about is how the economy’s failing and everybody’s getting a bailout but me. It’s hard to vilify illegal aliens, not matter how much you use it as counter-balance as a point of debate, when so many people are now themselves doing menial work that should be “beneath them.” More than that, Crossing Over just feels a bit too much like recent films that have dealt with complex issues, like Traffic or Crash.

True, Crossing Over is a multi-layered, multi-story and multi-character drama that covers a wide cross-section of Los Angelinos struggling with issues around immigration. Many of them are illegals trying to stake out their own piece of the American pie, while trying to stay just far enough below the radar to not get noticed. On the other side are the immigrants that did things “the right way;” they filled out their papers, did all the tests and went through all the red taped hoops in order to be formally recognized as a naturalized citizen. And then there are the immigration enforcement officers that see the same thing day after day as they round up another group of undocumented workers and send them on their way back home.

If there’s a star amongst the ensemble, it would have to be Harrison Ford as one of the aforementioned immigration agents. He’s world weary and tired of being the guy on the ground casting people out, and despite the perils to himself he decides to help one immigrant by taking her son home to her parents in Mexico. Ford is great, real and down to earth, but I’m not sure that the actor’s gusto for the part is warranted by the script. So much of the film plays out like this, important plot points seem forced and trite in the wake of some interesting work by the actors playing their roles.

But what’s more problematic is the sensationalism of it all. One storyline is about a government worker played by Ray Liotta that helps an Australian actress (Alice Eve) get a Green Card in exchange for sexual favours. I’m not sure if this would really happen, but frankly the whole thing seemed like an excuse to get the hot, blonde actress naked as much as possible. Another vignette involves Ford’s partner played by Cliff Curtis, who’s an Iranian immigrant that’s forced to cover up his brother’s “honour killing” of their sister. Now, honour killings do indeed happen, and they even happen in developed nations, but this plot just felt exploited for some kind of shock value.

On the bright side, I did enjoy Jim Sturgess as an English Jew trying to sly his way to a Green Card by posing as a devout man of faith despite his atheistic leanings. In fact, I’m almost of the opinion that Crossing Over should have focused on that portion and made the film into a comedy. But looking at this movie for how it is, only few of the stories really connected and the rest, save for the performances, is made up of a bunch of things that felt “ripped from the headlines,” with all kinds of false notes those words imply. Not that these issues have been resolved though, but there’s something about Crossing Over that just feels too pat and too convenient. It’s a smart package, but the box is empty save for a few morsels.