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February 23, 2006

Crash

Chicken Soup For The Racist Soul

By Ben

About twenty minutes ago, I watched a film that I went in expecting to hate, started liking part way through, then ended up disliking at the end because I wanted to like it but couldn't. The film was Paul Haggis' "Crash."

Having written "Million Dollar Baby," Haggis was already on my shit list for being a writer who likes to tackle controversial subjects but doesn't do it very intelligently or with much subtlety. "Crash" unfortunately did little to get him off the list. As much as I commend him for dealing with an issue that's very real and important he does it in a manner that's so by the books that it infuriates me even while I can't help but feel compelled by the events unfolding on the screen.

The film is emotionally manipulative in the way a sports movie is, it takes or creates situations in which you can't help but be excited, regardless of how horrible everything in the film leading up to that moment is. I hate sports movies and I almost hate "Crash."

While the acting is very good, the characters aren't very fully fleshed out (although if one thought the film worked one could easily defend this choice, but I wasn't a very big fan so I'll attack it). Instead, they're archetypes (stereotypes) run through a rube goldberg machine that spits them all out in a nice convenient pile at the end where they all realize they're all a little bit racist. Yeah, it was necessary for what he was trying to do but what he was trying to do isn't very necessary. It was an obvious and contrived film that needed to be made but not this way.

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