Nothing new, overblown and simply too sanctimonious for its own good.

Rating: 4/10 (13 November 2006)

Well, I sat down to watch 'Crash' expecting something new - after all, racial division has already been addressed in many films - some very good ('In the Heat of the Night'), some with an interesting spin ('Guess who's coming to dinner'), and some tacky but compelling ('24 Hours').
Well, 'Crash' was a crashing disappointment. It covered nothing new, and seeing a bunch of big movie names overacting and - especially in the case of Bullock - trying to be serious when this is NOT their natural acting style (did no-one tell her?) was eye-wateringly bad. The only plot strand that got close to anything meaningful was with Damon and Newton - acting was streets ahead of the others, and the story almost believable. The antecedents for social racism were made clear here, and demonstrated its contrast with PERSONAL conflicts which are often more complex and ambiguous.
Overall though, hackneyed, patronising, and with a lazy script. The fact it beat 'Brokeback Mountain' for academy award for best film was for me the final damnation.