Overwrought

Rating: 3/10 (19 May 2005)

I must have seen a cut of this movie no one else has because this was simply overwrought, clichéd, and underwhelming. While Million $ Baby wasn't the most genius of scripts I've seen in quite a while it at least brought up a hush-hush topic that has been ignored in recent years. Crash, on the other hand, tries to take racism and present it in an in-your-face view.
It would have been more powerful to see the racism moments presented by the director in more subtle, powerful ways than setting dozens of ticking time bombs and waiting for them to (literally) exploded and see who lies or dies or learns or hates or loves.
The performances are quite strong, props to Don Cheadle and Matt Dillion, but the stories told, a nod to the Tarantino / Go style of storytelling, are simply too simple for the average viewer.