Crash...your head into a wall after seeing this. You'll feel better.

Rating: 3/10 (23 March 2006)

Wow...what a load of...
My husband, to my shame, purchased the DVD based on the hype and all the Oscar hoopla. I read a few reviews before hand, and was wary. Still, I really wanted to like this movie. As I watched it, it became really hard to do.
I tried on a cinematic, technical level, looking for great camera work, settings, lighting...nope, nothing impressed me. I tried to like it for its proposed "edgy" dialog, and its "daring", "noble", "eye-opening" coverage of racism. None of that came across in the movie. It was written almost from the perspective of someone who hasn't experienced tense situations, let alone racism.
Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, and Terrance Howard did the best they could with their roles. However, ANYONE could have played any of the characters, and it would have been the same movie.
The music was forgettable. The story is mostly an urban folk tale, but there is no urban-styled music. The music is too clean.
Overall, the movie was mostly a "C" movie, not at all worthy of the awards it received. There is maybe only one truly intense scene...but it is really a cliché in disguise. Just like the rest of the film.
If you have to, absolutely have to watch this, rent it. Or wait for Crash: The Musical.
As an aside: The jacket of the DVD has a picture of Jennifer Esposito on the back...SHE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY. Her character was non-existent, accept for seeing her under Don Cheadle for two seconds. If they were going to put a screen shot of Esposito on the DVD jacket, they could have mentioned Sandra Bullock's collagen bloated upper lip in the end credit thank-you's, since both Esposito and the lip served the same purpose, whatever purpose that was.