Lost Reviews #7

Crash (2005)
Paul Haggis

--Over time, my opinion of this movie has changed in the sense that I can't imagine I'd love it if I watched it again. Reading the review however, I'm reminded of what makes it so good.--

Keep your eye on Paul Haggis as the next great writer/director. His academy award nomination of writing Million Dollar Baby got people’s attention and his emotional thriller, Crash has got me hooked on him. Crash is a Magnolia type story about several people living in racist Los Angeles. It’s a story of coincidence but those coincidences are not so obvious that they hurt the film. The movie is brilliantly intense and emotional. The characters are fantastic and believable. The acting throughout, starting with Oscar nominee Don Cheadle, all the way through Matt Dillon, whose performance was fantastic, Ryan Philippe and Sandra Bullock was great. Brendan Fraser was even able to deliver a line well, only one though. The highlight performances came from lesser-known Terrance Howard as Cameron, whose wife is taken advantage of by a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Chris Ludicris Bridges was very good as well. The movie is very powerful and courtesy of its similarities to Magnolia, widely entertaining. The flaw of the film was its opening dialogues. As an audience member, I was a bit overwhelmed with the racism. It was certainly getting the overall point across, but the film did that well without overdoing anything. This and the last coincidental shot that ended the film were the rookie director’s only real mistakes. This is and will be one of the best films of 2005.
****1/2
06/03/05