Powerful ensemble piece

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2005)

Paul Haggis(the writer of "Million Dollar Baby")makes his directorial debut with this powerful drama about an ensemble of characters who are connected through a car crash. The characters include a seedy cop (Matt Dillon), who has racial sentiments due to his father's company going bankrupt do to affirmative action programs; the attorney general of Los Angeles (Brendan Fraser) and his wife (Sandra Bullock) who get mugged by two black teens (Ludacris and), both of whom have different positions on the race issue; a detective (Don Cheadle) looking for his long-lost brother; a TV director (Larenz Tate),who represses his anger at the racism he sees; and a foreign businessman who must deal with a paranoid American society. Main flaw in the film are there are too many stories with too many characters, not all which fully develop, but Haggis makes each character memorable and interesting and provides situations that always ring true. People wanting to see this movie for Bullock or Fraser should stay away: Both appear in almost cameo-like roles.