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Rented Crash last night. Lob me in the nay column. Haggis is really a lazy storyteller, relying on coinicidence and "plants" to get the plot moving. Every little stupid thing leads to something else. It's frustrating to watch scenes at the beginning be so blatantly (maybe romantically is the word) racial, leading you to wonder where he's going with it, until it's obvious he's guiding us to more scenes just like it. Then he ties it all neatly in a bow at the end declaring: "prejudice is really about fear folks." I guess you can get away with liking it, though it doesn't take chances enough to even fail honestly. Kind of cowardly.

Like Million Dollar Baby, I strongly disagree with the politics of the drama, teasing you with hope then throwing it's hands up in the end saying "oh those crazy racist!" (Haggis' invention of Clint's wrongheaded priest pal and Hilary's Jethro Bodine-esque family makes more sense now).

Crash is a very artless art movie.

Agreed. Hagiss is a very overrated filmmaker/writer. Sadly, his 'correct' politics allows for critics to be very kind. MDB is a good film for the first 2 thirds but a mediocre one in the final stretch.

From the sterotypical 'hicksville' parent to the Catholic priest who knows nothing about Catholicism to the total absence of medical fact (it would never play out as it did in this film)this film was not Clint's best.

Funny, some people though that the anti-euthanasia side didn't get enough play...truth be told no side got enough. No, the priest is not given very good arguments but then again..."Put me down like a dawg," isn't exactly the most compelling argument for assisted suicide I've ever heard.

As for Crash, I think it is stuck in that typical 'big city white guilt' view of racism. I'd like to see the movie about racsm that Bill Cosby would make. That would make for compelling viewing and tell us something we hadn't heard before. This was simply stuck in the 60's.

I don't know about 60s, it was pretty far removed from the fairly naive Guess Who's Coming To Dinner view of the world. I would say it was stuck in the 90s worldview post-Short Cuts and Magnolia. But I agree that it was clumsy and only succeeded by pushing the right buttons.

I can't remember seeing a less subtle movie than Crash. Every time a character would walk into a scene it would turn into a Lenny Bruce routine. Reminded me of how good Magnolia was... I'll take frogs falling in the valley over snow anytime.

And how about Tony Danza as the racially shallow producer! What the fuck was that? Couldn't they get Alan Thicke?

Crash is a movie of the week. I don't need to be preached at for two hours especially about racism.

Paul Haggis is the new Douglas Sirk

"relying on coinicidence"

Hah. Every single movie that falls into the genre of Crash (the intercut storyline type), as well as thrillers and romantic comedies and the like all rely of coincidences.

I personally really liked Crash. And while it's intentions are admirable, they're not why I liked it so much (but it appears to be exactly why people dislike it). It was extremely well acted, technically it was great (cinematography, score, etc all excellent), and it had some great moments (singular scenes are work tremendously well). The screenplay is a little bit "HI, MY NAME IS RACISM AND I AM IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!" but it didn't annoy me as much in my second viewing, except for whenever Ludicris is on screen.

Oh, god, Douglas Sirk is a million times better of a director than Haggis (so far). Sirk's best movies are subtle, ironic, and subversive. Crash is all surface.

I dislike Crash, but its intentions are admirable, it's the execution where the movie fails for me. Who's saying that it's intentions are why they don't like it?

hes against racism. thanks paul haggis. really cutting edge.

Crash was kind of sad. I think a movie like Crash needs to be made. A movie that deals with racism in America because so many other movies just glance over it and that's wrong. But Crash is not the answer I was looking for.

Yes, the intenions are good and the standards are really high. But I was just sick of the movie by the halfway mark. Just sick of it.

Crash doesn't have to be made today. Maybe on the Lifetime network.

Why doesn't Crash need to be made today? Because it's not a good movie or because we don't need movies about racism?

Crash was one of the worst movies of the year. I think anyone touting it for awards hasn't seen it or has white mans guilt.

When the SUV's gasoline trickled down the street toward the flaming car, I half expected Mel Gibson to walk over and throw a hacksaw to poor Thandie Newton.

"Now it'll take ya ten minutes to cut through the metal but five to go through the bone. It's your call, mate."

(Sorry, I'm enjoying hating this movie. It's my new Serenity)

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