The people in 'Crash' are so busy running into each other and saying racist things to each other that they don’t seem to have time to live their lives.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
"Crash" is the real-life version of "Star Wars". In George Lucas´s six-movie space opera, about twenty main characters happen to be involved in all the major events of a galaxy populated by tens of billions of sentient life forms. In Paul Haggis´s "Crash", about ten main characters happen to be involved in all the major events of a metropolis populated by four million people. In George Lucas´s case, at least his story spans several decades, so "Star Wars" doesn´t strain credulity despite how badly the movies were made. On the other hand, Paul Haggis has the same ten characters running into each other all the time in the span of two days even though they´re not a bunch of friends at a reunion. The people in "Crash" are so busy running into each other and saying racist things to each other that they don´t seem to have time to live their lives.
We missed "Crash" when it was released on DVD in September 2005. Then it started appearing on critics´ top-ten lists and started getting nominations for year-end awards, so in keeping with DVD Town´s goal of covering "important" and "visible" movies, I decided to take one for the team. My colleagues owe me one.
"Crash" takes place in L.A., presumably during a December because you see Christmas decorations and snow. Yes, the movie boldly announces how different it is by making it snow in L.A. The story begins by introducing a bunch of people who like talking about race relations in America, who like to criticize other people for being racist, and who like to be hypocrites by making racist remarks, too. At the end of the movie, with the exception of one guy being killed for no good reason, everybody is happy, and God smiles on his children by making it snow and pretty in L.A.
One person does something to another person. The "another person" gets mad and does something to yet another person. The "yet another person" gets mad and does something to one more other person. The "one more other person" is somehow connected to the first "person". Given the size and social geography of L.A., none of the movie´s characters should be running into each other with this kind of frequency. I know because I lived in greater L.A. for two years.
This movie might´ve been a tad better had the actors sold the material. However, only Matt Dillon didn´t make me laugh. This was partly because Dillon got lucky; his character doesn´t have embarrassingly trite or preachy things to say. When it´s his turn to make racist remarks, he doesn´t do it by using slurs. Rather, he builds credible arguments based on a believable history and frustration that he can´t help his father.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]16625[/release]