OK look at race relations

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2006)

In CRASH, Canadian-born director Paul Haggis takes us on a whirlwind tour of race relations in L.A., where people from many nations collide every day. He examines how we view each other and how our lives intersect through a series of vignettes, and after awhile the film began resembling MAGNOLIA in its structure and plot; it even includes a slightly miraculous act of nature, although nothing as dramatic as raining frogs. Alas, there is no Tom Cruise on hand to anchor this episodic film. The best we get in CRASH is Matt Dillon as an anguished cop with an ailing father and Don Cheadle as a detective with a missing brother and drug-addicted mother. Both are very good, but neither has the star power to provide the focus of the film; this is strictly an ensemble piece, using a mix of known and unknown actors in key roles. It is sort of fun to watch the normally wholesome Sandra Bullock as D.A. Brendan Fraser's wife getting all potty mouthed and bigoted after she is carjacked by a couple of street blacks. An initially almost unrecognizable Ryan Phillipe plays Dillon's squad car partner, and ends up being the most tragic figure of them all.