Missed the touch

Rating: 8/10 (8 May 2005)

Greetings again from the darkness. Within the first 5 minutes, I was shifting in my seat and realized the dialog was making me extremely uncomfortable. My first reaction was that writer/director Paul Haggis (writer of "Million Dollar Baby", TV's "L.A. Law" "Thirtysomething" and "Walker, Texas Ranger") was using simple shock value to manipulate the audience on the topic of racism. The words and scenarios were almost cartoonish. As the movie went on, I realized this was very much an expose on the stereotypes and paranoia we all carry. Bigotry and intolerance and fear are widespread. Of course, very few of us wear it on our sleeves or are as indignant about it as most of the characters in the film, but Haggis is right in that this is not a subtle topic. Bust it open and examine it and MAYBE something good will happen.
The cast is huge and talented. Sandra Bullock, shaking off her "Miss Congeniality" persona, does great work in her limited screen time as the eternally angry princess who has refused to reflect. Don Cheadle turns in another of his sterling roles as the moralistic protector of all things good, only this time he has some demons of his own. Matt Dillon, in her first good performance since "Drugstore Cowboy", is terrific and steals most every scene. His character is the most complex, hated, misunderstood tough guy you have seen in awhile. The rest of the cast is filled out wonderfully by Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard (Gossie in "Ray"), Larenz Tate (Quincy Jones in "Ray"), Tony Danza, Keith David, Ryan Phillipe and Thandie Newton. Ludicrous deserves special mention for stepping up and playing the absolute most extreme racist (with a touch of humor) since Peter Boyle in "Monster's Ball".
There will be many comparisons to PT Anderson's great film "Magnolia" due to the overlapping story lines and criss-crossing of characters and I feel the spiritualism of the film can also be related to Kasdan's "Grand Canyon".