Criss Cross (1992)

This thinly veiled morality play about a struggling single mom-turned-stripper (Goldie Hawn) could have used a lot more fleshing out. Its contrived plot centers on Mom's temporary inability to meet both the financial and emotional demands of raising a 12-year-old son (David Arnott). And its characters, including the ineffectual ex-husband (Keith Carradine) and the generic boyfriend (Arliss Howard), are barely two-dimensional. Criss Cross was quickly x-ed out of theaters earlier this year, and it doesn't really deserve a better fate on tape. It's neither upbeat family fare nor hard-edged drama. And there's no escaping Arnott's flat reading of inane lines like ''Mom, we have to talk.'' In the end, not much is revealed in this dumb movie except Goldie's body. D+