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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Lions Gate Films
Salesrank: 19280
Released: April 4, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.00 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
This compelling urban thriller tracks the volatile intersection of a multiethnic cast of characters struggling to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of one another's lives. In the gray area between black and white, victim and aggressor, during the next 36 hours, they will all collide.
Description of Crash - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition):
Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a detective (Don Cheadle) and his Latina partner and lover (Jennifer Esposito) investigate a white cop who shot a black cop--these are only three of the interlocking stories that reach up and down class lines. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby) spins every character in unpredictable directions, refusing to let anyone sink into a stereotype. The cast--ranging from the famous names above to lesser-known but just as capable actors like Michael Pena (Buffalo Soldiers) and Loretta Devine (Woman Thou Art Loosed)--meets the strong script head-on, delivering galvanizing performances in short vignettes, brief glimpses that build with gut-wrenching force. This sort of multi-character mosaic is hard to pull off; Crash rivals such classics as Nashville and Short Cuts. A knockout. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from Crash (click for larger image)
Crash - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
CRASHing bore 
2009-11-27 - Q: What could be more painfully dull than sitting through this movie? A:Sitting through it TWICE--the second time as part of a class on multiculturalism.
A trait shared by all substandard-to-mediocre movies is predictability, and this movie is about 95% predictable. That's a lazy way to make a film, as well as an insult to the audience's intelligence.
After the first few scenes, you know exactly how the movie will evolve. There are no surprises. The characters are wooden and one-dimensional. Good actors were wasted in this movie, which is preachy and moralistic while having nothing important to say.
Amazingly, this has become a must-see in classes having to do with "issues" such as racism. I suppose there are people out there who found the movie thought-provoking and interesting, but these are individuals who feel more comfortable being told what to think rather than use critical-thinking skills to interpret more nuanced works.
If you really feel compelled to rent this movie, feel free to turn it off after the first five minutes: you'll be able to guess the rest.
Powerful Message - One of My All-Time Favorite Movies 
2009-11-25 - This movie treats the subject of racism in today's America with powerful, raw emotion. It draws you into the characters' lives and reminds you that we all have our prejudices and fears, our trials and tribulations, and our potential for nobility and humanity. There is a lot of ugliness in this film, but then there's a lot of ugliness in this world. Like life, the movie has its opportunities for beauty and redemption, and it's moving to see how these characters come through in the end. I'd recommend this to any thoughtful adult.
Crash
2009-11-24 - This movie I thought was alot differant then what I wanted haven't watched the series of this but someday I will it came really fast thanks
..And Burn
2009-11-17 - Question: why does this movie still have a 3 and 1/2 star average? Its should have the same rating that Batman and Robin, The Black Dahlia and Eye Of The Beholder rightfully earned. If you can stop believing in Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, then why cant you see this movie is the worst movie on racism ever produced? Old habits die hard I guess. For the record I'm not some inbred hick that hates any movie that deals with racism. I respect every movie that dealt with racism prior to this movie.
Crash received all its hype because the Academy Awards did not want to see Brokeback Mountain. There I said it. Its no secret that the Academy Awards are paid bandwagoneers. If there is money involved they will oversell any movie to death. If you recognize that fact and still give them the benefit of the doubt then you need to get your head checked.
Crash plays like a glorified, PC to the extreme, TV movie on race. The main thing that made better movies on race relations in the past great is that the characters in them are realistic. Look at Mississippi Burning and American History X. Are the people in those movies realistic? Yes. Now look at Crash. Are the people in Crash realistic? Of course not. These people talk about race 100% of the time. I'm sorry but even the most of hardcore racist will not talk about race 100% of the time nor would they do the stupid things that the people in this movie do.
With the exception of Ryan Phillipe, Terrence Howard and Michael Pena, the performances were laughable and weak. Matt Dillon should have been perfect as the racist cop John Ryan but to say he was unbelievable is putting it nicely. When he groped Thandie Newton's butt in a traffic stop I had to hold back laughter. I was waiting for her to fart just to give this scene the hilarity it deserves. Did the writers think that was supposed to be an effective scene? Please. Show him zapping her with a taser gun or beating her down and then you would have a more accurate description of what a racist cop would do and a more effective scene. Sandra Bullock was equally unbelievable in her role. I laughed my a** off when she fell down those flights of stairs.
Ludacris's character fails big time because we all know he has no depth to his character. Just listen to his albums. Larenz Tate is slumming in his performance and Don Cheadle phones it in. The writing stinks too because as I said earlier the people are unrealistic as well as the situations they are in. I cant believe for one second that John Ryan would rescue Christine from a car accident after he fondled her buttocks in front of her husband and neither should you.
The thing that sad the most about Crash is that after its done you are left wondering what the hell you just watched. The best movies on race leave the viewer with something they never forget. This movie leaves you with nothing but unintentional humor. There are better movies out there that deserve praise and get none. Why are people still praising this dud?
Better movies on racism: Magnolia, America History X, Do The Right Thing, Bamboozled, and Mississippi Burning. Hell I'll even take Higher Learning any day over this garbage movie.
Crash is Indie? Give me a break.
2009-11-10 - I just noticed a sale on Amazon.com: "Up to 40% off Indie titles." Most of the movies measure up the Indie classification - or at least as far as I understand the term. Crash appears as a blatant outlier to the group. This movie had one of the largest mainstream promotions and currently has one of the largest bandwagon followings of recent memory. It fakes Indie because stomaching the truth that this movie was driven by corporations looking to monopolize on stimulating your "brain stem" emotions just doesn't settle well. If Crash is Indie, then what what has Indie become? And how long before there's a new grassroots movement away from this new "Pop Indie" that's developed?
Apart from it's portrayal as Indie, I still take up issue with the movie. I agree with another poster who quoted an intelligent critic as claiming that the film treats racism as an overt occurence instead of the covert issue that it really is. Some argue that in order to address the covert issue, you need to portray it in an overt manner. That's fine with me, but just make sure the audience is aware that you're taking that artistic liberty. I've heard too many people citing Crash as evidence of how bad racism is in the Los Angeles area.
