Honest? Realistic? ...Not so much

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2005)

I saw this movie before reading any of the reviews. Let me start by saying that I enjoyed it, placing it in the category of "good" movies that I have seen, but not "great". Had this movie come out a few years ago, before Magnolia, Traffic, 21 Grams and others in that genre, I would have viewed it as quite original. Unfortunately, the story lines that I expected to reveal jaw-dropping surprised were thinly concealed and not all that surprising.
One refreshing aspect of the movie was the locksmith and his family. A presentation of this type of relationship, showing a loving 2-parent moderate-income family of color, was the one realistic aspect of the film. They exist more than film and television leads the country to believe. The rest of the main characters seem to be stereotypical caricatures of white, African-American, Arab-American, and Asian-American people from the white perspective.
This is definitely a movie to discuss with a diverse group of friends or co-workers, since it brings up a number of important issues - police corruption, affirmative action, immigration, crime, HMOs, etc.
I gave this movie a 7. The acting was superb, but the filmmaker could have done a better job of crafting the story to build better connections with the characters, the crash/crashes, and the incidents that led to their being there instead of focusing so much on the extreme stereotypes.