Over-rated & Self-Congratulatory

Rating: 2/10 (29 January 2006)

Although this film is well-made and well-acted, it is an exercise in self-congratulations on it's acute awareness of the state of race relations in this country, heck even the world! Unfortunately, as I felt the hammer of moral authority hitting my skull with every exchange of dialogue, I just kept thinking - "people don't talk like this. This isn't what would happen! What is with the faux-Tarantino dialogue between the two carjackers? (How clever!!) Why doesn't someone slap Sandra Bullock? Couldn't ANYONE see what was going to happen with Ryan Phillipe - I saw it coming in NEON Lights! This movie provides easy emotions to hard problems, and everyone can leave the theater talking about how much they have learned, and nothing changes. No thanks - even PULP FICTION had more to say about the true state of race relations than this movie. This film doesn't ring true.