Poorly written and annoying film

Rating: 5/10 (27 February 2006)

The story of this movie deals with issues of prejudice and race in a rather crude and unlikely way. Characters are portrayed as "two-sided" rather than "black-or-white" which might have been a virtue, if it had been done in a half-way believable way. Unfortunately, the screenplay suffers from mediocre writing, and an improbable plot. It's unsubtle, done in a hit-the-viewer- over-the-head style, and betrays the writer's long background in television. Furthermore, the musical soundtrack is highly annoying and distracting. I suppose it's trying to create tension, which the writing fails to do. It's really hard to believe that this movie got a best-picture nomination. But then I thought Million Dollar Baby was also way overrated.