Heavy-Handed, Self-Righteous Garbage

Rating: 3/10 (25 January 2006)

Crash. The film that confronts racism in a gut-wrenching and mature manner. The film that makes us take a harsh look at ourselves as a race. The film that is superbly crafted in every way. The film of 2004.
Right? Wrong.
What did I see when I watched Crash? I saw a slew of recycled racial stereotypes. I saw a sophomoric script. I saw direction on par with an episode of whatever television drama is "in" right now. I saw the same concept of interweaving L.A. subplots that has been done so many times (and so much better) by other filmmakers. I saw one of the worst films of 2004.
Crash is the story of a handful of Los Angeles residents and how their lives intertwine over a period of time. All coming from various ethnic backgrounds, these characters are confronted with intense racism both directed at and emitted from them.
Having missed the film in theaters, I was inspired to view it after all of the intense debate among critics, some claiming it as an A+ masterpiece, others claiming it as F-grade garbage. I had to decide for myself. While I do not think the film is a complete failure, it certainly is nowhere near even B-grade material, let alone A.
After the first ten minutes, it was already fairly apparent that this film wasn't exactly subtle. We have an altercation in a gun store as a man of middle-eastern descent attempts to purchase a firearm and is berated by the storeowner, who loudly calls him "Osama." We see a white cop pulling over a couple that were engaging in a sexual act while driving and feeling up the wife, and afterward, the wife screams at her husband saying that the only reason it happened was because he thought she was a white woman, and he didn't like the idea of her fellating a black man.
If these blatant attempts at affecting us aren't enough, writer/director Paul Haggis also presents us with a pair of young black males. One a sensitive youth, one a rather stereotypical "gangsta". As they travel the sidewalks of an upper-class portion of L.A., the former explains to the latter about how all white people hate black people and how this is proved by the fact that they didn't receive as many coffee refills as other people in the restaurant they had just dined at. He spews out some more talk of how horrible it is to be black, and then they pull out pistols and steal an SUV. Wow, that's some real subtle irony right there, Haggis.
Now, I realize Haggis tried to focus in on prejudiced people, but what he does in Crash is just ridiculously over-the-top. This is the twenty-first century, not 1930's Alabama, here. Is all these people ever think or talk about related to race issues? They're not exactly presented as dynamic characters. This also makes it hard to care about anyone in the film. If they're all just a bunch of degenerates, why should I care? And of course, by the end of the film, all of these characters have undergone a miraculous catharsis and have become wonderful human beings.
Yeah. Sure.
And again, as I stated earlier, this technique of interweaving mini-stories in Los Angeles has been far better in the past. Short Cuts, anyone? Magnolia? On top of being insultingly heavy-handed, Crash commits another celluloid sin: it's just plain easy. How hard is it to tug at the audience's heartstrings when you have a cute, innocent little girl being shot? Then all one has to do is cue up some Enya-esquire music, and voila!  you've got something the critics are guaranteed to become rabid over.
Any sophomore in high school, if asked to write a story about racism, could have written a script as simple and obvious as Crash.
Also, as I stated earlier, on top of having severe script problems, Haggis' direction is straight out of a television drama. It's all above-the-shoulder close-ups and shaky hand-held.
However, I do not feel it is fair to give this film an F grade for two factors: the gorgeous cinematography, which results in some great visuals of Los Angeles, and the fabulous cast, which delivers some damn fine performances. Of course, they are utterly wasted on this trash.
Don't be fooled by the hype, for Crash is a film that does anything but live up to it. Unless of course, you want a film in which all the intricacies of the narrative are spoon-fed to you off a silver platter. Oh wait, in order for that to be the case, the narrative has to be intricate. Nevermind.