Not a bad ensemble piece but not Best Picture material

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2008)

"Crash" tells the intertwining stories of several Los Angeles residents as their lives are touched by racism in various ways. Some are victims, some are perpetrators, all are changed by their experiences.
One thing that I will say about the story is that it throws subtlety out the window. I found it painfully obvious who I was supposed to sympathize with. There are no 'gray' characters, only black and white. Then, throughout the course of the film everyone learns some sort of blatant 'life lesson' and is usually the better for it.
At least the cast is an excellent one with several fine performances from talented individuals like Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard, Michael Peña and Matt Dillon. There were a couple of questionable casting choices but for the most part the acting was well above average.
Haggis's direction wasn't bad but I'm struggling to recall anything at all about it that made it stand out. Similarly, I can't recall even a single piece of music from the film, so that area obviously didn't make any sort of impression on me.
While this film beat "Brokeback Mountain" for the Best Picture of 2005 I think that that was a huge mistake. The acting may be excellent but the story is dumbed down so that the 'message' can be grasped by even the dimmest audience members.