All of these terrific parts do not, however, add up to a great movie.

Rating: 7/10 (26 September 2019)

Haggis was nominated for an Oscar this year for writing Million Dollar Baby, but he considers EZ Streets - one of the best, if short-lived, TV crime shows ever - his greatest achievement.
So, if you're Haggis, you've written your share of gun scenes, and you're wealthy. One night, as you're leaving your local video store with your wife, two thieves steal your Porsche at gunpoint.
This happened in the 1990s, and Haggis still hasn't gotten over it. It could've hardened his heart. Instead, he wondered about the lives of those young men and about larger issues of crime, intolerance, social isolation, racial stereotyping, intertwined fates and the frustrated anger that simmers beneath the surface in every large city. Then he sat down to write.
Crash, the film that resulted, isn't the indulgent piece of therapy you might expect. It's an ambitious and often wonderful movie, an expansive look at urban life - the fractious, noisy whole of it - filled with witty, biting and insightful writing. Not only that, but it's also well-acted, with an all-star cast, and Haggis directs with fluidity and flare.
All of these terrific parts do not, however, add up to a great movie.