High budget Hallmark movie

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2006)

Is it me or did this "made for video" Hallmark-like production just win the best picture at the Oscars? Oh dear, the state of American nation must be even worse than I thought.
OK, the good points. The acting is decent, though somewhat amateurish. The score is fantastic. The storyline is interesting and the storytelling doesn't leave a boring moment.
The first bad point of the movie is the look and feel of it. It is so Hallmarkish. I am not sure why that is, either due to the poor dialogue, or due to the stereotypical characters - don't believe the publicity, the Hollywood stereotypes are not broken in this movie, they are just reinforced. However, the really BIG bad point is the whole idea of the movie. After all, if you didn't know that race relations were a complicated affair, you must've come from another planet, populated by a single race. Now, let's use the "chain reaction" and the "six degrees of separation" phenomena combined to demonstrate that well-known fact. Sounds intriguing? Of course it does. The problem is that the creators of "Crash" use this technique to state the obvious, and that is really, really disappointing.
Bottom line - there is not much to this film. It has Hallmarkish feel, Hallmarkish look, and it's ideas are as shallow as a puddle, despite the creators' best efforts. Watch it if you are really intrigued, but be ready to be very disappointed. I still can't figure out why it got an Oscar.