Worth seeing, but..... (SPOILERS!!!)

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2005)

...know that you will be manipulated severely as a viewer. Normally, I don't mind being jerked around emotionally by a film if a) I know beforehand I'm in for it, and b) the manipulation is based on believable plot points. That's where most of this films adherents and I depart company; I felt only about half of the director's attempts to pull me up short actually worked, for me, anyway. I need to say right here, though, that this film should be seen, if for no other reason, than its clear message on how subtle racism creeps into all our live, and the toxic effect it has. That, for me, was the movie's redeeming virtue. On the downside, I ended up saying "I don't think so" once too often for my comfort level. For instance, when the Iranian shopkeeper fails to have his door fixed and instead yells at the Hispanic locksmith about being ripped off, and then (after having his shop vandalized) gets zilch from the insurance company because he didn't follow the locksmith's advice? Please. This guy struggles to leave Iran and scrapes together a business in L.A. and we're supposed to believe he won't walk to the back of his shop to see what the locksmith is telling him is wrong with the door? I hate it when directors do that, ask us to accept a completely unreal situation so he can then move us on to the resulting crises, which is supposed to evoke sympathy for the characters involved. This film, unfortunately, has more of these moments than is good for it, and by the end it pulls what could have been an excellent film down to being just a good one. The acting all around is first rate, especially that of Matt Dillon. Bottom line: see it, but the more slack you can cut the director, the better you'll like it. I just couldn't cut him that much.