One of Eastwood's Worst, Not Best

Rating: 3/10 (25 January 2009)

Let me preface my review by saying I love Clint Eastwood. Although I think this year he was a little shaky, 3 of his last 4 movies have been absolutely terrific: Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, and Letters from Iwo Jima.
However, I'm appalled that this film, Gran Torino, is viewed in the same echelon as those titles (at least by the public). For a film that is so contradictory, so didactic, so obvious, and ultimately so mediocre, I would think that Letters from Iwo Jima would replace Citizen Kane as the greatest movie of all time.
Gran Torino is a simple enough story: a racist man who confronts his bigotry when Hmong refugees move in next door. He then begins a highly unlikely transformation from an ignorant man to Christ figure (don't worry, you can't miss it).
I'll begin with some praise for the film: being directed by Eastwood himself, Gran Torino is very well made. It was nice to see that Clint only somewhat features his famous harsh lighting. Eastwood also gives a pretty good performance to boot (just pretty good, considering it's the same role he's always played, this time it's a little better).
Now the problems. First, Eastwood decided to cast mostly amateur (in both senses of the word) actors for the Hmong roles. As good an acting director as Eastwood is, the acting is abysmal, especially Thao. As I'm sure it's mentioned elsewhere, there is a particular scene where Thao freaks out when locked in the basement. I laughed hysterically in the worst possible way.
Additionally, the film is so didactic and obvious in its message: racism is bad. I like to think of Gran Torino as the Crash of 2009: a highly overrated film (by critics and the public alike) that deals with racism, features a plethora of contradictions and plot holes, and ultimately stinks as it repeatedly pounds its message into the viewer's head.
If you'd like to hear some contradictions, here are a few: the girl Sue tells Walt (Eastwood) she wished he were her father. This touching line comes after Walt calls Sue a racial epithet. It's shocking how nice Sue and Thao are to Walt despite his crankiness and very open bigotry.
Also, I found it hard to believe that after 80 years of absolutely hating Asians and other minorities, Walt would suddenly be so open to change. People who are stuck in their ways for that long typically stay stuck. They also aren't looked at as a potentially great fathers.
I also find it disturbing how Eastwood employs racism as a means of humor. Does anyone else find this wrong? The old-grandpa-stuck-in-his-racist-"get-off-my-lawn"-ways role should be one you feel sorry for, not what you laugh at.
Well, that's my two cents. If you want to go check out a good movie that deals with racism properly go see American History X or Do The Right Thing, not Crash or this failed Eastwood experiment.