Crash movie REVIEW |

Crash isn’t a happy movie.

It’s actually pretty depressing. It’s somewhat like Magnolia, only with a whole lot of racism.

People are probably going to love it.

Crash is about the complexities of racial conflict in America today.

All expressed through the interwoven stories of a whole mess of L.A. characters.

It features a white Brentwood housewife and her DA husband, two police detectives (one Black, one Latinx) who are also lovers, a white rookie cop and his partner, a Black TV producer and his wife, a Persian store owner, two carjackers, a Mexican locksmith, and then some. Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris Ludacris Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Philippe, Larenz Tate, and Michael Pena all star.

Don’t worry. It’s a lot less confusing than it sounds.

Writer/Director Paul Haggis (author of Million Dollar Baby) masterminded the film.

And he does capitalize on shock value and the pain of people of colour (pain he never experiences and can never truly understand), which makes me uncomfortable. The idea of a wealthy white man taking on this subject matter is just somewhat suspect in general, but I smell an Oscar nonetheless.

The disturbing story is filled with ‘I can’t believe they did that/said that’ moments.

At the same time, Crash allows for unpredictable positive outcomes and surprisingly comedic dialogue. As a result, it’s suspenseful throughout.

Crash ultimately succeeds because it manages to examine bigotry from many different angles without getting preachy. It will likely be one of this year’s major independent successes.

I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but I expect it nonetheless.

An edited version of this Crash movie review appeared in Dose on May 7, 2005 and is shown below.

I attended a screening of Crash on April 28, 2005 at Granville Cinemas, Vancouver. More film and tv pieces are here.

I also interviewed Paul Haggis, here.

Published in Dose magazine, May 7, 2005.