'Magnolia' + racism - one hour = 'Crash'

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2005)

'Crash' is well-made ensemble film with a racism theme that only slightly preaches to the audience. In an effort to avoid the thousands retellings of the story, I thought I'd write the Things I Liked.
1. It told the story mostly how it could be--I have met people who are as more or less racist as the movie suggested, it didn't exaggerate the character traits to advance the story.
2. The performances were excellent--Especially Cheadle, Tate, Phillipe, and Dillon. Certain lines were spoken in certain ways that rang so powerful my jaw almost dropped.
3. The continuity was clean--the timeline moved around a bit, which was interesting, but I liked that there was time given between the door lock problem and it's eventual resolution. Not everything was explained as much as it could have been, but there weren't too many loose ends.
4. It was human--It seems to have taken a page from the Alexander Payne films where people aren't always good or always bad, they just respond to what they see.
To me, the ending is a clear nod to 'Magnolia.' The only criticism is that the subplots could have used a little more development and closure, for example, the DA's subplot ended with no firm conclusion except a very brief press conference.
8/10