Best Picture... seemed like a good idea at the time.

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2007)

"Wow. This movie has guts and a brain to match with it. The tragedies that can be caused by even a slight sample of prejudice are showcased in full light, especially with Ryan Phillippe's cop in a nightmarish link to the characters' connections. Breakout performances can be found by Michael Pena (an actor I'll keep my eye on for the future), Terrence Howard (very good actor - can't wait to see Hustle & Flow), and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (that's right, THAT Luda). No one in the cast dominates the screen more than Matt Dillon, who plays an extremely racist cop with a sick father and, in my favorite scene, must rescue a black woman he took advantage of earlier from certain death. My only complaint that keeps the movie from receiving that last half of a star is the fact that while this seems like it should be a fairly balanced script for the ensemble, some actors (like Brendan Fraser) played characters who didn't seem as pivotal to the plot and shined less. Also, to those of you playing "Where's Danza?" look here."
This is what I wrote when I first saw Crash, when it first came out on DVD. This was before its now infamous Oscar-win over Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture of 2005. At the time, I gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars (9 out of 10 here)....
.... I still think the film is slightly better than the pretty-yet-credit-greedy Brokeback Mountain (not the first homosexual romance film, folks!), but I see its win for Best Picture merely as a desperate attempt at ending racism once and for all - not a reward for an extraordinarily crafted film. Crash is a good film, Paul Haggis is a terrific writer, and the cast did what they could (As it turns out, my favorite scene, the only one that stands out to me, is Pena putting his daughter to bed), but its aura - its very being - is just not as lasting as anticipated.
I don't blame the Academy at all for their choice; I was even on the same boat. How comfortable would it be to live in a world where we would no longer feel the need to remind each other that racism is an ugly thing? Of course it would feel fantastic! At the time, handing out one of the most established and prestigious prizes this country has to offer to a film like Crash felt like a brilliant, society-improving move. We Crash-lovers all thought that hopefully, giving Best Picture to Crash will end that constant obligation we all feel, and no more movies, books, TV shows, etc. about racism will ever have to be made again! This mark in history, this "Oscar upset," when Jack Nicholson announces the winner, THIS will change everything, right?...
Unfortunately no.
To be blunt (and this is coming from an Oscar-holic), none of the Best Picture nominees were all that amazing. My favorite among them was Capote, but I realize it's not the most amazing of films...
2005 was a year fueled by political frustration (Syriana, Munich, Good Night, and Good Luck., the Oscar telecast was even hosted by Jon Stewart!). I normally never side with the family-friendly genre, but through all that opinionated muck, I found my favorite film of 2005 to be March of the Penguins. (Sigh) At least it won Best Documentary.