Full of well-observed supporting riffs, Crash might've accumulated more frisson had it cast a clearer eye on how social tension actually plays.
Crash (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:194
Fresh:146
Rotten:48
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: A raw and unsettling morality piece on modern angst and urban disconnect, Crash examines the dangers of bigotry and xenophobia in the lives of interconnected Angelenos.
Theatrical Release:12-08-2005
Synopsis: A Brentwood housewife and her DA husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. A black television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie... A Brentwood housewife and her DA husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. A black television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie cop. A middle-aged Korean couple… They all live in Los Angeles. And in the next 36 hours, they will all collide… A provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial conflict in America, CRASH is that rare cinematic event - a film that challenges audiences to question their own prejudices. Diving headlong into the diverse melting pot of post-9/11 Los Angeles, this compelling urban drama tracks the volatile intersections of a multi-ethnic cast, examining fear and bigotry from multiple perspectives as characters careen in and out of one another's lives. No one is safe in the battle zones of racial strife. And no one is immune to the simmering rage that sparks violence - and changes lives... Funny, powerful, and always unpredictable, CRASH boldly explores the gray area between black and white, victim and aggressor…and finds no easy solutions. The dynamic feature directing debut of Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Paul Haggis, CRASH stars Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe and Larenz Tate, from a story by Paul Haggis and a screenplay by Haggis and Bobby Moresco. CRASH is produced by Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis. [More]
Starring: Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Michael Pena
Starring: Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Michael Pena, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Larenz Tate, Ludacris, Ryan Phillippe, Terrence DaShon Howard, Shaun Toub
Director: Paul Haggis
Director: Paul Haggis
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Producer: Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Reviews for Crash
Crash's strength is that it deals intelligently with serious subjects.
Almost the entire movie consists of actors screaming at each other in Oscar-bait annoyance.
...a gritty examination of misplaced tension and despair wrapped up in its makeshift boiling point...percolates with the right kind of toxic manipulation and complexity
Easily the year's best: taut, credible, exciting drama of police corruption and more.
What happens between the film's opening and closing car accidents more closely resembles a train wreck.
A promising but ultimately disappointing drama about California angst.
A crash course in unmasking the racial and class divisions in American society that make every stranger into a potential enemy.
Crash is hyper-articulate and often breathtakingly intelligent and always brazenly alive. I think it’s easily the strongest American film since Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, though it is not for the fainthearted.
I think this is the kind of film that starts arguments and stimulates passionate discussion about topics that still make most of us cringe.
Too bad that the often disturbingCrash, which takes a healthily provocative look at the complexities of contempo interracial relations, is such a flawed film
Haggis turns the screws on a nation’s anxieties and helps light the way of personal responsibility through conversation and, if need be, a little divine intervention
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August 30, 2008:
A film teeming with solemn recognition of the nasty complexities of living in a multicultural society, and much of what remains unspoken racially in America being neatly shoved under a complacent rug. ![]()
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May 24, 2007:
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