Hightly stylized and well-acted but you can't polish a turd.

Rating: 6/10 (29 June 2015)

This 2005 Best Picture-winning, West Coast "Do The Right Thing," is a Disney-fied, unfunny attempt to expose our collective prejudices. Unlike the 1989 Spike Lee joint, it superficially places the harbored racist stream-of-consciousness of its characters on their sleeves. Of course there are people like this in real life; the pampered politician's wife (played by Sandra Bullock) who doesn't trust the tattooed Latino locksmith (Michael Pena), who is really a respectable, hard-working, God-fearing Dad. It's not that a situation like that doesn't occur in real life, but it is the hyperbolic way that it is presented that falls flat. There isn't very much depth to the characters. They all play these racist caricatures or victimized caricatures that serve as vehicles for monologues that the author wants to express, which is the cycle of racism and glass house-stone throwing culture of America that we live in. For example, the black insurance lady who had to sit through Cop Matt Dillon's racial tirade only to espouse her own stereotypes toward a fellow Asian motorist in a later scene. Almost every character does this and it just becomes predictable. Seriously, Spike Lee did this fifteen years prior with the infamous race-based soliloquies in Do The Right Thing, and it was not only effective, it was funny. Crash simply does not deliver.
The ensemble of brilliant actors and solid performances couldn't pull this textbook "Wild LA" script from the burning wreck of its own conclusion. It was certainly watch-able for the performances alone, and I will say that some of the key plot twists were creative and well-placed. Which is why I won't trash it. It is a good movie in a technical sense but it certainly is not an Oscar-winner in my book. If the point of this story is redemption, then it did not succeed in conveying that. Especially with Matt Dillon's character. I don't believe that his actions in the film were redemptive. Fate can't bail out your guilt.