Movie about racism and good and bad in people

Rating: 6/10 (14 October 2006)

In a society where everyone has racist inclinations, everybody's path is bound to collide with each other, especially in a racially diverse city like LA. The movie has a very strong message but I am not so impressed by the way the message is delivered. The plot seems to me to be a little too contrived. The structure of the plot is similar to "Traffic" where there are different group of characters each living in their own world and their paths cross each other unexpectedly. It seems every character has an issue with a certain race. One cop doesn't like blacks and harasses a black woman in front of her husband, two other black guys don't like white people, and harass a white couple and steal their van, some middle eastern guy's store is broken into and he blames a black guy, some Chinese guy hates some other race (I cannot remember, there were too many hating going on). It's like a contest of hatred (whoever hates the most number of races wins!). The message is serious but I think some of the dialogs are just overdone. They are way too direct and not subtle enough. We get it, these people are racist and racism is a bad thing. We get it, we get it. The way the characters behave is just too over-the-top. The story and unfolding of the events are enough to give us an idea of what's going on in their heads, do we really need to hear every little racist thought they are thinking? I am also not so pleased with the way every group of character crosses path with the other - so many coincidences. I know the title is "Crash" and it is part of the movie's message: people colliding with each other. But again, some coincidences come off as contrivances (so long I don't read the screenplay writer's thoughts, I am OK with it but when I can read them, then to me they are contrived for a purpose and that takes away from the movie). Overall, not a bad movie but not good enough to win an Oscar.