Crash
Terri
This movie, unlike many, actually did have a theme. As nearly as I can state it, it's, "Racial stereotypes, prejudice and language barriers can lead to really bad outcomes."
In case anyone in the house missed the theme, not to worry, it was repeated umpteen times through the course of the movie in far less than subtle statements. Forget about showing, let's tell, tell, tell in case the place is filled with abject morons.
While I am keenly interested in the theme, as stated, I felt that everything was lost in the presentation. I didn't enjoy wallowing in it, so to speak. It was certainly not entertaining, nor was it of value in a documentary sense. Nothing of interest or value was added to my life by virtue of having seen this movie.
On the redeeming side, and the only reason the grade below is not lower, there was some fine to excellent acting on the part of many of the key characters, such as Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle. Both of the black robbers also turned in excellent performances, as did the wife of the black TV director. In fact all of the acting was excellent to superb, except for the person who played the DA, who in my opinion was flat in his portrayal.
So, good acting, you get, but it's another predictable, ho-hum, uninspired script in my opinion: Thumbs down from Dan (not even close; it'd be way down, except for the fine acting) and a C- if you prefer letter grades.
Use links below to navigate to other pages.
Terri said she thought the movie was thought provoking. "We're all prejudiced in ways we don't realize and it's helpful to see things on the screen that can remind us of this."
She also liked the layers of character traits which she thought resembled real life.
"We're all made up of layers," she said. "In one situation we might respond one way and in another, another. We're all really very complex and I thought the movie did a good job of illustrating this, especially the Matt Dillon character."
To enjoy this movie, though, she felt that one had to be in the mood or of the mind set to learn something. "It was not, purely speaking, entertainment though. It was a very heavy piece."
Terri gives it a thumbs up, and hence, our first split decision since I started writing these critiques--in case you're keeping score.
Use links below to navigate to other pages.
