Racism's bad, mmmmkay?

Rating: 1/10 (13 March 2006)

"Crash" was completely predictable. The dialogue was wretchedly contrived, and the movie had no point to make except, Racism Is Bad, You Shouldn't Be Racist, Everyone's A Little Bit Racist, Mmmmkay? I'm sorry, but to me, a film should entertain first, and then, if it wants to put a message in there somewhere, that's fine. This is nothing but A Very Special Episode of a cop drama. It's like an Afterschool Special or something. I think the only people who will find this movie 'eye-opening' are white people who have seen people of other races on TV, but haven't actually met any. I'm white myself, but I grew up around people of other races, went to school with non-whites, and have had many non-white friends. This movie pretty much insults everyone's intelligence. The fact that this movie won the Best Picture Oscar tells me that the Academy is comprised of old white people who have no idea what the real world is like. The movie was irretrievably bad, and I was irritated by how easily I was able to predict the plot. Every scene served to set up a really obvious conclusion later in the movie. There were almost no surprises, and what surprises there were felt unrealistic. But then, the whole movie felt unrealistic. I watched this movie with a friend, and I couldn't help but state the obvious message of each scene such as "This scene is an attempt to humanize the racist cop" and "The Integrity poster in the background is meant as an ironic commentary on the lack of integrity being portrayed by the characters". This movie was a one-note symphony, and missed the point it was trying to make completely. I really wanted to be entertained, but instead I was preached to. This movie so heavy-handedly tries to manipulate the viewer's emotions that it not only fails in the attempt, but causes resentment instead. Sorry, I'm not an idiot. I get that racism's a Bad Thing. I don't need a by-the-numbers piece of Oscar bait to tell me that message. First rule of film-making: entertain your audience. This movie failed to entertain, or enlighten, or do anything but induce eye-rolling and laughter. If this movie were a deadpan comedy, I'd give it 10 stars, but since it's supposed to be a gritty, realistic exploration of the issue of race, I'm giving it 1 star. Self-indulgent Hollywood at its worst.