Bordertown

Rarely does a film with such noble intentions possess as few redeeming qualities as Gregory Nava’s Bordertown. The movie takes an important subject that its makers obviously care deeply about—the real-life exploitation, rape and murder of female workers at NAFTA-approved maquiladoras in Juarez, Mexico—and trivializes it with Jennifer Lopez’s ridiculous star turn, an inane script, stock characters, laughable set pieces and nearly incompetent cinematography and editing. Other than that, it’s aces. Lopez plays a crusading reporter who grudgingly accepts an assignment to cover the murders but finds her life in danger when she gets too close to the story. Bordertown is based on actual incidents that would make for a searing documentary unbeholden to the conventions of Hollywood popcorn flicks.