An Indy movie that actually IS pretentious.

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2006)

I tolerated the Oscars. I tolerated the usual bore. I tolerated a mediocre Billy Crystal style monologue by Jon Stewart. I tolerated Dolly Parton. I tolerated the cultural-regression that was Three 6 Mafia. But I lost it when Crash won for Best Picture. I did a double take. I couldn't believe it. Jack Nicholson couldn't believe it. No one could believe it. Because it was a fluke.
I really wanted to like Crash, I really did. I like Indy films, I like ensemble casts, I like social commentary. However Crash managed to ruin of of this for me. Crash is an exercise in self-righteousness, pretentiousness, and pseudo-liberal elitism that is oh-so-common in Hollywood.
As is common in ensemble casts, Crash involves interconnected story lines as characters weave in and out of each other's lives. However, in Crash, this becomes tired and repetitive very quickly. From the beginning we are shown incident after painful incident of blatant prejudice and racism, perhaps effective the first time or two, but eventually is just disconcerting. In Haggis' world, everyone has extreme racial biases and exhibits then all the time. Yes, we all, to a point, harbor bias, but 99% of us show it in a not so overt and many times subconscious way. Crash is completely lacking in subtlety.
Cliché abounds as we are forced, rather quickly, through the series of events that eventually leads us to a muddled and self-righteous conclusion. I left the theater feeling offended and indignant. Crash was not thought-provoking, it was though-enforcing.
I was very happy with four of the five Best Picture nominations. All but Crash. Why, oh WHY is Crash there, when so many other films are being snubbed in the name of self-satisfaction (The Squid and the Whale)? As I mentioned before, movies should make you think, not tell you what to think.