Crash

Tonight, Steph and I watched Crash. Let me first say that I liked this movie very much. But here is the catch. I have a lot of little negative things to say.

First off, its extremely heavy handed. If I were Roger Ebert, I'd find some really clever analogy about spreading icing on so thick that they used a shovel or some nonsense. Really though, after about 3 or 4 scenes I'm like "Ok, we get it. People are racist. I accepted that after a while though. I decided it was an artsy film about racism, I suppose they should talk about race.

Second, a lot of it is contrived. There are several scenes where characters do and say things that just don't seem natural. Its like they are just doing whatever it takes to make each scene be "about something." What I call Tony and Christopher posturing. In the Sopranos, Tony and Christopher often posture to each other, even when they are essentially on the same page. It always results in the two of them being mad at each other. Only in the Sopranos its usually believeable, as Tony and Christopher are stubborn and prideful.

Last, there is really not much plot. Stuff happens in the movie, and the stuff is good and interesting. The characters are good and interesting too. In the end, however, it never comes together in anyway that makes for a good story. Its a series of interconnecting happenings. Nobody seems to have much of a complete story, and none of them ever amount to any sort of satisfying culmination. The two movies that automatically come to mind are Nashville and Magnolia.

Nashville, which I love, does the same sort of interconnecting story thing. In the end, all the characters come together for the big finish. Magnolia, which I would like if it wasn't kind of flawed, does a similar thing. Here too is a movie where all of the interconnecting characters unite in the end in some sort of culmination that works, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense.

This movie could really have stood to employ a writer that was good at story telling. A little LA Confidential or Shakespeare In Love would be nice. These were Oscar caliber movies that were sharp, clever and had really interesting stories.

All that said...I really liked this movie. Had I seen it last Summer, before people said it was so fantastic, I think I'd be raving about it. I'd have still noticed its problems though. I don't have any problem with it being nominated. I doubt it will make my top 5 but it will be up there.

-T