Star-Crossed

Some of Star-Crossed falls into the CW’s well-trod comfort zone: young-adult romantic drama with a sci-fi twist. It shows extra ambition, though, by putting its outsiders so constantly and viscerally close to those who suspect and fear them. Add forbidden love, which can never escape the shadow of potential doom, and Star-Crossed could become both provocative and entertaining.

Teen romance does play a major role in [Star-Crossed]... but there's a serious story of prejudice hiding underneath. That serious side--a look into the good and bad of humanity when faced with the "other"--is as compelling as it gets.

Star-Crossed is a by-the-numbers, odds-against, inter-species, teenage love story.

The tone is mostly dreary and the plot with few exceptions goes precisely where you expect.

The astrological outlook for Star-Crossed hinges almost entirely on whether the chemistry between Lanter and Teegarden yields the desired swoons. Because through two episodes, anyway, the impediments thrown in the way of their relationship, while duly soapy, aren’t interesting enough to make any of the supporting players pop.

There's a tentative blandness to 'Star-Crossed' that hindered my ability to care about any of its broadly sketched characters.

The dialogue is so awful, it probably doesn't matter that most of the performances are inauthentic.