Wildy over-rated, contrived, lots of noise

Rating: 2/10 (25 October 2006)

There were a few exciting, tense vignettes between the characters of "Crash" but there were also some tendentious, heavy, hackneyed things that really stood out: Don Cheadle's voice-over, ostensibly deep (the voice of conscience in the film), Sandra Bullock's hugging her maid towards the end of the film and confessing to her that she (the maid) was actually her best friend, the really quite sappy Latino whose gets killed when trying to save her father (the "red-cloak" piece of malarkey), the condescending treatment of Asians (especially the atrociously accented Korean woman at the beginning), the long sequence involving Brendan Fraser in the courtroom (it didn't seem relevant and was slow, the Terrence Howard/Thandie Newton confrontation (a lot of sparks but not really that compelling except for the melodrama), and so on. That the Matt Dillon turns to the Ryan Phillipe character when they break-up as a police team, "You think you know who you are but you don't have any idea, et. al." is gratuitous. Like so many lines in this film, it comes out of nowhere.
Not subtle, not a work of art, but plenty of adrenaline and action around a hot-button issue. Which is probably why less sophisticated, younger movie-goers (I just can hear them saying "Really cool, man, it'so SO-O deep") seem to have gone for this film. Most critics apart from Ebert and a few others were very lukewarm, if not downright very critical about this film. Believe me, it doesn't hold a candle and is definitely not in the same category as "La Strada," "Gosford Park,"...or last year's exceptional "Brokeback Mountain." Three much better films with superior screenplays/plot-lines, and character development are "L.A. Confidential," "Mullholland Drive," and "Chinatown."
Dialogue clichés, lots of high-speed car chases, clichéd-characters, lots of movie-stars doing uncharacteristically small turns, and Hollywood's favorite liberal subject matter (racism) are a recipe for Hollywood acclaim and middlebrow American audience approval. This film made only about 33% of its receipts from outside the U.S., a pretty weak showing. "Brokeback Mountain"'s receipts overseas accounted for more than its domestic grosses.
That it won the Oscar is NOT that surprising when such middling fare as "Beautiful Mind" (pure schlock except for Russell Crowe's acting). "Gladiator," "Braveheart," etc. won.
(This is definitely the last time I'll even pay attention to the Oscars).
At "Crash" at least breaks the stereotype that all African-Americans are an unfairly persecuted, noble minority.