Is J.Lo at a crossroads?

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1995: Movie time The dancing got her on TV, but Lopez has bigger things in mind. She starts auditioning for movies and in 1995 lands a role in the Oscar-nominated My Family and plays the girl in Money Train with Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.

1996-97: Moving on up! Lopezs film career continues to grow as she lands roles opposite big-name stars like Robin Williams (Jack) and Jack Nicholson (Blood and Wine). But when she plays Selena in the biopic of the same name, she gets nominated for a Golden Globe and comes into her own as an actress. (Mark J. Terrill / AP)

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2001: As good as it gets Lopezs second album, titled J.Lo, debuts at No. 1 the same week her film The Wedding Planner is No. 1 at the box office. J.Lo gives the singer and actress a steady progression of singles. Lopez ditches Puffy when he is arrested on weapons charges. But she doesnt need him. She doesnt need anyone. Shes on top of the world! (Henny Ray Abrams / AFP)

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2007: Jenny at a crossroads Lopez releases her first full Spanish-language album, Como Ama una Mujer, which feels a tiny bit pandering, but the album is No. 1 on the U.S. Top Latin Albums list for four weeks straight and sets the record for sales of a Spanish debut album. The film El Cantante, however, is a bust, with both Lopez and her costar-husband getting lambasted by the Latin Salsa community. Lopez still has projects in the works, but her career could go either way. (Matt Sayles / AP)

By Deborah Netburn

Aug. 6, 2007 12 AM PT

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Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

“El Cantante” is a first for Jennifer Lopez in several ways.

It’s the first film she produced with her new company, Nuyorican Productions; the first time she has starred in a film with her husband, Marc Anthony; and the first film she has opened to less than $4 million since the oh so fateful and never quite forgotten “Gigli.”

Back in the early part of this century, Lopez, like the economy, seemed unstoppable. She sang. She danced. She acted. She dated the biggest stars (Sean “Puffy” Combs before he became P. Diddy, Ben Affleck at his height). Everything she touched turned to gold.

But then something changed. She became too popular. Too diva-esque. We might not have cared if she hadn’t continued to pass herself off as “Jenny From the Block.” (No Jenny I know gets a six-carat, $1.3-million pink diamond from her movie star boyfriend.)

Now we find Lopez at a crossroads. Her career is not quite a shambles -- the successful “Monster-in-Law” came out just two years ago, and her Spanish-language album was at the top of the charts. But “El Cantante” hasn’t helped her cause.

a look back at what this American-born Latina diva has done right and wrong over the course of her 16-year career.