don't miss it - it's a Hollywood movie that's actually worth watching!

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2005)

The summary should do, really. But let's elaborate a little. Before I say anything else, I'll tell you I'm a critical movie watcher. I'm European, prefer European movies as they have far more depth and diversity and I have little respect for the rubbish shoveled out of Hollywood. But I still keep an eye on it. Even among the trash you can find things worth keeping, and this movie definitely qualifies.
The story is sobering, at least at first. It doesn't hold it's punches when the human condition (at least in L.A.) is described, and it shows us racism is rampant everywhere. Yes, even in the USA. The quality of this movie lies is the complexity of the emotion that is shown - events and characters are not black and white, if you pardon the pun. Characters are far more rounded that we are used to seeing in Hollywood movies. Still, Crash doesn't manage to keep it's strong points going for the entire duration of the movie. Sentimentalism creeps in, some events you can see from a mile away and the obligatory 'happy' ending cannot be avoided (I don't think you'd consider it a spoiler if I tell you most characters in the movie have received a lesson in life by the end). But what we see in between opening and closing credits is strong enough to make not want to dwell on that too much - it's also strong enough for me not to be naive and think the lessons learned will stick, not with most of them anyway.
All in all, it's a rare thing to see a movie of this quality, with this cast, come out of the Hollywood studio's. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?