A compelling disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (6 March 2016)

Crash is infamous for winning the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture over the much more loved Brokeback Mountain. While it took me more than a decade to actually watch this movie, I more or less could understand where the outrage came from.
The movie features a handful of character all living in Los Angeles, whose lives seems entangled. While it follows an overarched plot, everyone character is given their own story. Thematically it explores the topics of xenophobia especially racism and communalism. While the concept is a compelling one, the movie struggles throughout to make it stand because it's full of stereotypes, desperate dialogues & perverted meaning. The plot development is sluggish, while the character struggles to make the story stand, for e.g the case of the Persain shopkeeper (played by Shaun Toub) who is unbearably sensitive (especially showcased during his interaction with Michael Pena's character) was an ill attempt at making the point, and honestly the movie could have done without his superfluous presence. The racial dialogues all seemed forced and unrealistic, and all the "racist" characters seemed to be hellbent on making the point of "people are racist!", which made the movie a very unrealistic and cynical view of life. There's one scene in the movie where a minor character tells Terrance Howard's character that a Black character is becoming a lot "less black" just because he said "Don't talk to me about that" instead of "Don't be talking' 'about that". That is just pushing the boundaries of atrocious desperate writing, convolutes the meaning of the whole movie and insults the intelligence of the viewers. While the first act of the movie struggles, the 2nd isn't any better either. The characters are more or less given a second chance in the second half, but again it's attempted through a very weak writing and scattered scenes which just fails to make much of an impact. Although arguably the best scene in the movie comes near the end where Ryan and Tate's character relays that people of different races are not any different from each other.
While the writing disappoints, the acting is a lot better. And it's the main reason I even gave this movie a star. Sandra Bullock plays a disillusioned housewife convincingly, while Thandie Newton sells the black woman hurt by her husband's refusal to defend her. But there are some very subpar performances as well. Brandon Fraser's character is forgettable, and the other actors besides Don Cheaddle and Ryan Philippe are more or less forgettable as well and midway through the movie you'll just stop caring about them.
As a caveat, I'll say the movie is unconvincing, casts off characters as stereotypes and is filled with scattered scenes which fails to make an impact. I'd not recommend it to anyone, the only positive thing I can say is that the few of the actors acted well.