Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Paul Magne Haakonsen For some reason then I never got around to watching "Crash" until now, after I was strongly recommended it by a teacher. So I got the chance and sat down to watch it, and it turned out that I had actually missed out on a rather unique movie experience.While the storyline in the movie might seem a bit sporadic and all over the place at first, then I can only urge you to stick with it, because it all comes full circle and comes together in a very impressive manner.Director and writer Paul Haggis managed to put together a good story that was voven together by many different storylines. But it all worked out quite well when pieced together.The cast in "Crash" was just spectacular and they really had some talented actors and actresses on the cast list. You will be blown away by the collection of talents that are present in this movie.But not only the cast was fantastic here. The characters that the actors and actresses were portraying was equally fantastic. The characters were so well-nuanced and individually adding something unique to the storyline.The pacing in the movie was quite good, and there wasn't really a dull moment throughout the course of the movie."Crash" is definitely a movie that is well worth taking the time to sit down and watch.

Joe H. After watching this movie twice, there's a double frustration, first because one might wonder how such a fantastic cast came together on a picture of such questionable taste, and second because this picture shares its name with a masterpiece directed by David Cronenberg, and what are the odds of having two masterpieces with the same name? The movie tackles ever-relevant social issues, the outcome of which is fairly thought provoking. The intention is there and it's a good and smart one. Applause, again, to the players, who, despite an uneven script, are all in top from, from the principal roles like Terrence Howard's director (magnificent) and Brendan Fraser's attorney (possibly the first intelligent role of his career) to secondary characters like the objectified secretary, wonderfully played by Loretta Devine. This is a portmanteau film, meaning that it comprises several plot-lines of almost equal importance instead of the more frequent plot/sub-plots formula. Each plot-line in Crash intertwines with another one way or another. First, let's point out – and this is not a criticism – that this movie is allegedly happening in more or less 48 hours. Thus, the fact that the scenes are clocked begs a realistic depiction of events, theoretically leaving little room for poetic analysis or open interpretations. The impeccable actors are really doing their best with an overdramatic script that forces them to be equally overdramatic and, worst of all, to take their characters and situations a teeny tiny bit too seriously, the exact extra amount of seriousness to make the movie not fun to watch. Sandra Bullock spends almost the whole movie on the telephone complaining about her stolen car and her Latino maid, later opening up her heart to her frustrations during an emotional phone monologue (close-up), after which she (suddenly) falls down the stairs, in a slow-motion shot complete with Kar-Wai strobe, followed by a wide shot of her crying on the floor (in case you didn't get it, she cries due to both physical AND emotional pain). Let's also mention the catastrophic party pooper that is the Iranian's armed confrontation with the Latino locksmith. Seeking revenge over a robbery he blames him for, the Iranian guy confronts the locksmith in front of the latter's house, in broad daylight (because that's what killers do, but the shots are saturated typical Hollywood-style and, of course, are in slow-mo, so let's call it an artistic choice). They exchange very heated F words at the very second when the Latino's kid daughter jumps up to his arms and at the very second the Iranian happens to shoot after holding fire for a good minute. This is still possible in real life, it would be a horrible coincidence but still, this can happen. However, when you thought the movie couldn't possibly force more fake tears into your eyes, that's when the a cappella aerial soprano music kicks in. This is called emotional masturbation. Mind you, this is not a bad movie; this is simply a very disappointing one. And every time you try to give it a chance there's something there to distract you. The labyrinth-like links between characters are typical of portmanteau's but, in this case, the audience gets lost playing the "That's the brother of the cousin of the woman who was in the car, not this car, the car from the scene before" game. You also get the infamous "it's a bitch but life goes on with funky music" ending. Even Mrs. Doubtfire has a more ambiguous ending. Paul Haggis has proved his screen writing competence with several projects, but for this film (which is his directorial debut for the big screen) he might have wanted the script and the shot- list to help each other. Unfortunately they ended up having the opposite reaction to each other. The movie does stick together. And the fact that such a relevant subject matter is delivered by such a competent cast will keep you interested all the way through. The issue here is artistic, as the movie promises more than it delivers.

Matt Sewell Oh boy. As a feminist accidentally born with testicles, I can tell you, there's nothing I look forward to more than a film reminding me how privileged white males like myself are the scum of the Earth. I generally use movies like this as a sort of intellectual self-flogging to make up for the thousands of years of oppression my people have caused the entire world. This one, however, didn't amount to much more than a sappy, manipulative Disneyesque take on the state of racism in the United States.We know we're in trouble early on when Sandra Bullock's privileged character warns her liberal husband to be worried about two African-American gentlemen on the street and she turns out to be correct. It's like the film is shooting itself in its foot from the get-go. Afircan-Americans should NEVER be portrayed in a negative light on film or in television. They've suffered enough. Later, we meet an atrociously disgusting white police officer in the character of Matt Dillon. He molests an innocent African-American woman (as one suspects white police officers are apt to do on a regular basis) and then, as though the film wants to make some clever statement about irony, the same racist cop saves the same poor, innocent African-American woman from a burning car. The director plays games like this with the audience throughout the picture. It's like he's learned the very worst lessons Spielberg has to offer. Set the audience up, smack them sideways in a manner the filmmaker no doubt considers "clever." It's not. The whole movie reminded me of the patronizing scene in Schindler's List when Liam Neeson notices white flakes in the air. The audience thinks, "Snow! Christmastime! Yeah!" and then he walks a few blocks and we see it is actually ashes from burning Jews. Crash is nothing but an endless series of episodes like this. It looks like it was written by a freshmen cultural studies major who hasn't had enough Liberal Arts training to learn how to make his art subtle and, thus, more meaningful. Avoid this at all costs. For a great movie to feed your white guilt, I recommend "The Brother from Another Planet."

Sean Comeaux I think this may be one of the most overrated movies ever made, but I understand why it won an Oscar. The LA location and the heavy melodramatic discussion on race makes it perfect for the judges of the Oscars. One scene has Ludicrous giving a speech about how African Americans are viewed as violent, lazy and cheap. He complains about a white woman avoiding them out of fear. He then proceeds to car jack that same woman. This is one of the many examples of what a convoluted mess this movie is. Almost every actor plays a caricature. Racism is a real problem in this country, but this movie does nothing to seriously analyze it.