Crash

2004

USA

Directed by: Paul Haggis
Written by: Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Music by: Mark Isham
Cast: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Tony Danza, William Fichtner, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Chris Bridges (aka Ludacris), Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual content and some violence

Synopsis (by Google):

Writer-director Paul Haggis interweaves several connected stories about race, class, family and gender in Los Angeles in the aftermath of 9/11. Characters include a district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his casually prejudiced wife (Sandra Bullock), dating police detectives Graham (Don Cheadle) and Ria (Jennifer Esposito), a victimized Middle Eastern store owner and a wealthy African-American couple (Terrence Dashon Howard, Thandie Newton) humiliated by a racist traffic cop (Matt Dillon).

My Thoughts:

That synopsis doesn't really begin to cover the complicated ins and outs of this stark, unsettling work. Every character in the film is allowed to show both the good and the not-so-good sides of their personalities. OK, I get it -- nobody's perfect; but it got a little monotonous after a while. And there was more coincidence and foreshadowing than you'd find in a Hardy novel, with each character touching the lives of the other characters in some way -- they weave in and out of each others' existence. It was a good idea, but could have been served up with more subtlety, I thought.

Best part of the movie? Surprisingly (for me, at least) -- Chris Bridges as the wannabe carjacker Anthony. The energy level soared every time he was on screen. But many of the other actors delivered fine performances as well. Too bad they didn't have more to work with.

My IMDb Rating: 4 stars out of a possible 10