Occasionally misses but hits hard and keeps running

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2005)

A snapshot of anger and intolerance in modern-day LA, Crash follows a group of apparently disparate characters whose lives intertwine over 24 traumatic hours. It's an impressive directorial debut from Million Dollar Baby scribe Paul Haggis. But as intelligent, provocative and marvellously acted as it undoubtedly is, Crash still relies on a string of clichés, contrivances and coincidences to hammer its message home.
That message is: rich or poor, law-enforcing or law-breaking, hard-working or work-shirking  one way or another, everyone's a racist... but we all have a shot at redemption.
With Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle in the mix, this was always going to be worth a look. And being a film about preconceptions, the film benefits from some interesting casting, with Sandra Bullock playing against type as a disaffected wife, Tony Danza as a sly TV producer and 'Ludacris' Bridges as a car-jacker with a chip on his shoulder about everything - including rap music. But even here, Haggis sometimes takes the obvious route by giving the most unsavoury-looking guy - Michael Pena's Latino locksmith  the purest disposition.
Plot-wise and thematically, Crash veers from the predictable to the inspired. But while it also takes too much time to tie up its many strands, it is as thoughtfully made and thought-provoking an ensemble drama as you're likely to see this decade.