Somebody Has To Say This: CRASH SUCKED

[Edgewater_Joe]

Take away the Matt Dillon and Terrence Howard sections of the movie, and you're left with one of the most unrealistic, contrived, one-note-played-over-and-over-to-ear-bleeding-levels polemics that Hollywood has ever produced. The Ludacris-Larenz Tate sections are this close to being Abbott and Costello-meet-hiphop, every other person of color are shrill stereotypes played with all the subtlety you see in a high school musical, Sandra Bullock is still Sandra Bullock ... and this piece of cheese wins a friggin' Best Picture Oscar?!?!

Hollywood just humped itself, and I'm the one feeling ill. In five years or less, this will go down with THE SOUND OF MUSIC and TITANIC as being one of the most embarassing Best Picture winners ever.

Tell me I'm wrong. I DARE you!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Contrived IS the word.

[priller]

26. Yes, that sums it up

I was thinking that very same word as I was mulling over the win by Crash. Very contrived.

[LostinVA]

69. It was SUPPOSED to be -- it was an allegory

[skipos]

2. I agree. Spike Lee has made more poignant racial films, and he

did it years ago with 1/100 the money. I don't get all the love for Crash. Just my opinion though.

[okieinpain]

33. same here.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I liked it. I can't say whether it deserved BP because I haven't seen

the others. I thought it was excellent. But then, I'm not a sophisticated film critic with deep insight, so what do I know?

[babylonsister]

9. I'm with you, ocelot. I made a point of seeing it,

liked it and thought it was good, but don't get the drama. No sophistication here either.

[Hissyspit]

4. Yup. It was cop-out vote. Like Time not picking Cindy Sheehan...

for Person of the Year.

[silverweb]

5. You're wrong.

So there.

:P

[fujiyama]

6. That's the impression I got from my sister

She felt it was sort of preachy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Crash was the most tedious liberal claptrap I ever saw

Every other movie in the category was wonderful. Crash was just plain awful. It was completely unuanced and unbelievable. It was a collection of half-baked stories. Awful. Damn near unwatchable. My wife and I suffered through it, and walked out trying to get the stench of liberal claptrap out of our noses. Ugh.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Liberal claptrap?

Are you sure you are on the right message board?

[NWHarkness]

17. Claptrap

It was liberal claptrap.It was obvious and preachy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. I am going to ask you to define liberal claptrap

:popcorn:

[mondo joe]

28. It was liberal porn.

And that doesn't make it good.

[NWHarkness]

36. I'd be glad to

Liberal claptrap like Crash is smug and lacking in any self examination. It takes the purity and pertinence of it's motivations for granted and assumes that the audience will as well.

There is no depth to it's platitudes. It is an exercise in preaching to the choir, it's purpose is to make people who agree with it's sentiments feel good about themselves.

[American liberal]

54. great definition of "liberal claptrap" i think you summed it up very well

[alcibiades_mystery]

86. Whitman: I contain multitudes (Art)

Crash: I contain platitudes. (Liberal Claptrap)

;-)

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

122. Amen to that. nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Oh, quite sure

Still know liberal claptrap when I see it. It's called critical thinking, see? I don't approve of claptrap, whatever side it comes from, and it certainly shouldn't be given a self-congratulatory Oscar.

[LiberalGuy000]

38. I wouldn't call it liberal claptrap

Just crap, that's all.

[Mandate My Ass]

16. Love your synopsis. You should have written the official reivew

POS was the best I could come up with for that crappy movie.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

46. Awesome reverse psychology....

....keep repeating it was PC liberal bullshit over and over and over and by tomorrow at this time everyone here will be saying "'Crash' was a GREAT movie and only stupid right wingers hated it. I'm GLAD it won "best Picture"!"

[alcibiades_mystery]

87. No, it really just sucked

Sorry.

[LostinVA]

70. It was very nuanced -- I think we saw different versions

And, not claptrap at all - Haggis meant it to be an allegory.

[alcibiades_mystery]

88. The net effect of a piece of garbage like Crash

Is for people to walk out saying "Wow, that guy was so racist, and I'm not."

That is the height of liberal claptrappery. Just awful.

Nuanced? You must be kidding. Hell, a movie like 8 Mile - a film I liked better when it was called The Karate Kid - was far more nuanced and thoughtful on the subject of race than Crash even came close to being

[cherokeeprogressive]

8. I thought it was an excellent movie. Just goes to show you that

there's no accounting for taste. One man's trash is another man's treasure. To Each His Own...

You're wrong. Or maybe you're right. I think you're wrong though. Taste is a very subjective thing.

We can like it if we want to. And there isn't anything in the world you can do about it.

[wildhorses]

53. welcome to DU

:hi: I am cherokee on my Daddy's side and Creek on my Momma's side...

[cherokeeprogressive]

120. Thanks for the Welcome!

My mother's father, my Grandpa (May the Great Spirit Rest His Soul) was born on the res in Talequah, OK. Full-blood. He left, came west, and lived a very successful life in So. Cal.

He married my grandma, a paleface, in 1941. Talk about a mixed-race marriage! They made it work though.

[LostinVA]

71. I agree -- it was the second best film I saw all year

Right after Brokeback, And, I liked it just a bit better than Capote. I would have liked to have seen BBM win... but hell, it own everything else this year, the producers could give this one to Crash.

As Richard Carpenter has said about critics of the Carpenters' music: You can say you don't like, but you can't say it's bad, because it isn't." You don't have to like it, because taste is subjective, but it's a good movie. A nice, tight script, quit good acting, great editing.

[k_jerome]

10. actually this will go down as making up for those selections.

the safe picks were spielberg or brokeback.

[LostinVA]

72. I agree

Crash or Good Night would have been the upsets.

I mean, ANG LEE.

[Pale Blue Dot]

11. EVERYONE was a stereotype.

And then every stereotype was deconstructed. There is not a likeable person in the movie, yet there is also not an unlikeable person in the movie. It came the closest to how I see the world of any movie I've seen for quite some time.

The mere fact that it has so many people pissed off speaks to its power. :P

[sandnsea]

20. Thank you

I was about to post that the stereotyping was the entire point of the movie. But then you added in the deconstructing thing, and the plain human factor, which are important too. I thought it was a great movie, one of the best I've seen in a long time. There were a lot of great films this year, it was a year for truth, which is quite ironic considering how little truth we get in what's supposed to be the real world.

[bigluckyfeet]

32. I Saw Three Polls Tonight

Where the people picked Brokeback Mountain to win.It seems Hollywood is not in touch with the people.

[Hippo_Tron]

50. If the people picked, then there would be no point in having the Oscars

[LostinVA]

74. Brokeback has won every other major award this year

Including many more prestigious than the Oscars. the Oscars are NOT the most prestigious film awards, although the Academy wants you to think so.

[Shine]

29. Excellent points, Finnfan.

:thumbsup:

[LiberalGuy000]

42. no, I'm afraid not

You're seriously misreading the disappointment expressed by many of us.

The mere fact that it has so many people pissed off speaks to how bad the movie is.

You said the movie represents how you see the world. I feel very sorry for you.

[Pale Blue Dot]

43. No need to feel sorry for me.

I'm happy. :D

[LostinVA]

73. They were supposed to be --

[alcibiades_mystery]

90. Bwahahahaha

Deconstructed? I hardly fucking think so.

Everyone was a stereotype, and everyone remained a stereotype to the fucking closing credits.

Telling me the absurdly racist cop also saves people because of his duty to policing is not the deconstruction of a stereotype. It is the mashing together of two stereotypes that does nothing to deconstruct either. The same goes for all the other characters. What tripe.

Power? Puh-leez.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. You are wrong

It is an awesome flick. Just awesome.

[LostinVA]

75. Agreed --

[Richard Steele]

14. I have been saying it since the day I saw that piece of crap. It SUCKED!

I can't put it any better than you did, Joe:
"Hollywood just humped itself, and I'm the one feeling ill."

CRASH was 113 minutes worth of Hollywood humping itself.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

95. Quite possibly the most ignorant post in this thread.

Congratulations!

[Shine]

15. I respectfully disagree.

I thought it was extremely powerful and well-acted.

I'm surprised Brokeback Mtn didn't win, with all the advance buzz it received, but I'm cool with Crash winning.

:thumbsup:

[Pushed To The Left]

18. Okay....You're wrong!

I saw both Crash and Brokeback Mountain, and I liked Crash much better. Brokeback was very good, but Crash is one of my all-time favorites.

[K8-EEE]

19. YUP!!!

Very disappointing.

[calmblueocean]

22. "The Sound of Music" an embarrassing Best Pic? O RLY?

It's a great film. Titanic, yes, embarrassing in retrospect, but Sound of Music? Very worthy.

[Hippo_Tron]

52. Sound of Music is one of those that you either love or hate

It largely comes down to whether you like musicals or not.

[Skittles]

23. I found it entertaining

but it simply was not worthy of an Oscar nomination, not at all

[aaronbees]

25. When I compare "Crash" to "Do the Right Thing"...

It's all the more obvious how much weaker a film "Crash" is than the other best picture nominees this year or many other years; I think much of your criticism is spot on correct, though there were some things I liked about the flick.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

65. Excellent comparison highlighting the ham-handedness of "Crapsh".

[mondo joe]

27. What a bad movie. An LA with a population of no more than 24 people.

And all connected to each other.

It was overwrought.

[LiberalGuy000]

45. overwrought and contrived

I've lived in California for many years - both San Francisco and Los Angeles - and I've never come across anyone like any of the characters in the movie. They were all caricatures of the directors imagination.

[mondo joe]

56. Wasn't it funny how 2 cops encounter a couple only to later, separately

encounter the husband and the wife and happen to save both their lives at the same time?

And how Don Cheadle magically happens to get the case of his own dead brother?

[LiberalGuy000]

58. ha, yeah

And in Los Angeles, of all places. Oh yeah, I run into the same people all the time when I'm running around L.A.

Not only were there too many storylines and "leading" characters, the situations were seriously unrealistic.

[LostinVA]

77. Yes, allegorical

[alcibiades_mystery]

113. You keep saying that word

As if that proves quality in and of itself. What a weird assumption.

There can be monstrously awful allegories, you know?

[RubyDuby in GA]

30. I couldn't have said it better myself

But you forgot Gladitor and The Greatest Show on Earth in your list of absolute piles of shit to take this statue home.

[QC]

31. Yes, it's a Lifetime Movie of the Week.

But awards work that way sometimes--after all, Pearl S. Buck won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

[bluestateguy]

34. Your criticism strikes me as, um, well, false

nt

[cleofus1]

35. i did not see one of these movies

not one...return of the sith should have won best picture...

[Broken_Hero]

55. I didn't see any of these movies either...

None, at least that were for best picture. I also didn't like the effort, to make people go out and watch movies at the theater. Hell man, here is 8.50 a ticket, and I go with my wife, thats 17 bucks just to get in, and if we both get a med drink, and popcorn...that adds easily, another 12 bucks...so you are talking damn near 30 bucks to go see a movie, in a theater, with a bunch of other people...compared to buying it on dvd when it comes out for 15 bucks, and you got a copy of it, and can watch it any time you want to, and at home, without other people buggin, unlike the theater, where a couple of yahoo's could wreck your experience....

I was also suprised that Batman Begins didn't get any nods...I didn't watch the whole oscars, but I didn't see that one get anything...but alas, i'm a comic book fan...snubbed again...:)

[blueblitzkrieg]

37. I've seen it twice.

It stunk even more the second time I saw it than the first. I was suprised it was even nominated, now I'm even more suprised it won Best Picture. Intersting to say the least...

[LiberalGuy000]

40. oh, man!

I could barely get through it the first time! Why did you torture yourself that way?

I hope that at least someone else paid for your ticket the second time.

[blueblitzkrieg]

44. I was tired and grouchy the first time I saw it...

so I thought maybe I was just in a bad mood and misjudged it when it started getting all the nominations. I should have trusted my first impression, lol

[LiberalGuy000]

39. I couldn't have said it better

CRASH = TRASH

Spread the word.

[Katherine Brengle]

41. I disagree ---

when I saw this film, I found it deeply moving and honest. What you call contrived and stereotyped struck me as realistic.

We'd like to think that our society has gotten past the issues that were present in the film--racism, abuse of police power, racial profiling (both by the authorities and by us as individuals)--but we haven't, and the film was honest about the presence of these pervasive elements in our culture.

It was also a story about human dignity, redemption, and the fragility of our basic rights as human beings.

It was beautifully filmed, the performances were all good, and the writing was real.

I've been surprised to see so many DUers denounce this film--it was one of the best I've ever seen.

[LiberalGuy000]

47. really?

So you know people like the characters in the movie? It was realistic to you?

The characters were all stereotypical extremes. They were hollow and obnoxious.

Why are you surprised to see so many DUers denounce the movie? It sounds like you're saying we should like it because it's the politically-correct thing to do.

[LostinVA]

79. People say it suck because they don't understand the film

Seriously, you all don't. It is not supposed to be a literal representation of problems in LA. It is supposed to be a morality play, an allegory.

[mondo joe]

96. No, we understood. We just feel it lacked any subtely or self examination.

It was all just preaching to the choir.

"Isn't racism bad? Can I get an Amen?"

"AMEN!"

"Doesn't racism cause pain?"

"AMEN!"

Blah.

[alcibiades_mystery]

110. Oh, I understand allegory

I also know a trite, self-congratulatory allegory when I see one.

[LostinVA]

78. Exactly

[wildhorses]

48. crash was manipulative but it did not suck but come on

cinderella man was not even nominated

[LostinVA]

80. I agree about Cinderella Man -- great movie

[Common Sense Party]

123. Amen to that. Horrible title. Best movie of the year.

But I guess Hollywood doesn't like feel-good, inspiring stories?

[zann725]

49. So did "Browback Mountain"...sadly.

Though no one seemed to notice.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

97. BM didn't suck at all.

It did have one major flaw, in that it was way too long. I'm not saying that just because I don't like long movies, but in this case, it definitely had a negative impact on the emotional intensity of the movie. Still, it was a great movie.

Crash definitely deserved to win, but in other years (like when Shakespeare in Love won), Brokeback would have easily taken the award.

[American liberal]

51. Thanks for saying it. Until I saw a clip from it during the Oscars,

I'd forgotten I'd seen it, it was THAT forgettable. IMHO, it did NOT deserve Best Picture. But it was pretty on pace for the tone of the show tonight. I LOVED Jon Stewart!!! He did a fantastic job. But, there was not one single movie or performance this year that I was excited about--not even the gay cowboy movie. It seems as if Hollywood is as numb as the rest of us. Plus, the industry is in trouble. And many people alluded to that tonight (nothing like seeing a film on the Big Screen, kind of comments).

But back to the OT (sorry), Crash really didn't do it for me. It was filled with stereotypes and cliches and was too "pretty." I'm still kind of shaking my head that it got BP. Good Night and Good Luck was a WAAAAY better film than Crash could ever be...

Oh well...

[norml]

57. I've added your selection to Who/What Are the Worst Oscar Winners Ever?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=4840644&mesg_id=4840644

[leftofthedial]

59. yeah! and take away hamlet and his mom and you're left with

a buttload of danish bullshit!

seriously, you can be disappointed about the outcome, but saying _Crash_ sucked is just absurd on its face.

[LiberalGuy000]

61. it's not absurd

Believe it or not, some of us can seriously disagree with the winner of Best Picture. It happens in life.

[leftofthedial]

63. there is a big gap between "disagree with the winner" and "sucked"

I said you can disagree, but claiming that _Crash_ sucked requires some sort of coherent argument.

[LiberalGuy000]

64. we've explained it already many times...

Here. This critic does a fine job of speaking for me:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11480804/

[xchrom]

84. that was a great review.

really, really thoughtful.

[LostinVA]

81. I agree

[LynneSin]

67. You can disagree all you want but the movie was still excellent

and deserved to win just as much as brokeback.

My god I feel like people think Isthar won for best picture last night or something to that level of movie making. I think that many people were so invested into Brokeback Mountian because it was such an amazing film that they are just plain unwilling to give credit to the fact that there were actually two very good movies last year

[LostinVA]

82. I agree -- quite a few people also said Crash could edge out

Brokeback. As i say over and over again in this thread, the movie was filmed as an allegory of race relations in LA.

Look, I'm gay. I have a ten-year relationship that can't eb legally recomnized... Iw as very much personally invested in BBM, trust me. However, I think Crash is a worthy winner. ALL the nominees were! Every one had a non-Hollywood, non-Establishment theme. Most of the acting nominees, too. It was a great LIBERAL year at the Oscars. Celebrate THAT.

Damn. Duers can take the shine off of anything good.

[mondo joe]

62. LOL - Crash did suck. It's heart was in the right place, but that's part

of the problem - it was overwrought in the extreme, implausible and too much about a MESSAGE to be a good STORY.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

66. Its heart wasn't on its sleeve, it was on top of its head like a hat.

It's like it was made by an alien with ten thumbs
who wanted to tell everybody not to hate other people.
Even if it turned the world into a garden of peace & love,
it would still be a hunk o' crap.

[alcibiades_mystery]

89. It could never have done that, because it makes you comfortable with

yourself.

Crash was a piece of shit. All it does is affirm some weirdo version of the world detached from all struggle. It was awful, and the last possible thing it could ever do is force people to think. Rather, it just replayed a collection of tired acceptable tropes, and pretended that they were in some way edgy. As I said above, liberal claptrap; I'll add, barely tolerable self-congratulatory liberal claptrap. Hell, a movie like 8 Mile - a film I liked better when it was called The Karate Kid - was far more nuanced and thoughtful on the subject of race than Crash even came close to being. Ugh. The memory of sitting through it makes me want to wretch.

And the stupid notion that we're so isolated today! Yowza. Hell, if anything, we're too fucking connected. Isolated, as if this were 1908 Paris and Haggis is some high modernist! What laughable garbage.

[mondo joe]

100. I think the CRASH talk highlights that this is a political message board

so a movie like CRASH is going to get praise because it gives the most strokes to a political bent -- and HERE that is considered a good thing.

Concepts like storytelling are secondary, if even considered at all, for many. Confirmation of worldview is paramount.

[alcibiades_mystery]

103. Confirmation of worldview is paramount for

simpletons and people who don't like to be challenged. Platitudes may be nice, but they hardly deserve an award for artistic merit.

[mondo joe]

104. Sure. Crash was just a big budget diversity training video.

But on a political message board, that's going to fly.

Heck, half the comments here in support of Brokeback are about it being groundbreaking or political. Though I think it deserved Best Picture, it was not in the least for those reasons.

I don't disagree with you in the least -- I just think it's predictable.

[alcibiades_mystery]

106. True dat

The movie was awful as film, but my point is that it was also awful as political "allegory." Some folks here seem to think that it was good because it was allegory, and that those who think it sucked mistook its allegorical structure. Hell, I have a PhD in English - I know a fucking allegory when I see one (or I wouldn't have passed my comprehensive exams, I assure you). But I didn't even need to graduate high school to recognize a trite and self-congratulatory allegory. ;-)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

115. This thread deserves an Oscar before Crapsh.

I've been thoroughly entertained, and it's an allegory, too!

[idlisambar]

60. Disagree

The "Sound of Music" is a classic

[LostinVA]

68. I disagree -- it was great

[LostinVA]

76. People on this thread don't understand the point of "Crash"

The movie was meant to be an allegory, not some kind of documentary on LA racism. And, it did it very, very well. It's supposed to have "stereotypes"... just like a morality play, or Greek drama. There are representations of archetypes. Seriously, this is what the movie is.

[Bridget Burke]

85. Gosh--you mean it had a "plot"? It was not a documentary?

I haven't seen ANY of the movies--don't get out to the theaters enough. But some people seem to be dumping on Crash for the wrong reasons. But none of the nominees seemed to be the standard Hollywood tripe.

[alcibiades_mystery]

91. Oh, I understood the point

I just thought the point was fucking stupid and trite.

And saying something is an allegory doesn't make it good. Half of TV sitcom is allegory. So what?

[RubyDuby in GA]

121. No, I understood it completely. It still didn't deserve the nom, much

less to win the Best Picture award.

It was a contrived, pretentious piece of fluff compared to the other four that were of Oscar caliber. When the Academy gets it right (The Pianist) man do they get it right, but when they get it wrong......you get Crash.

[RebelOne]

83. I did not care for Crash at all.

In fact, I could not even watch the entire film. It depressed the hell out of me.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

92. You're completely wrong.

I loved Brokeback Mountain, but Crash was better.

It was a far more complex movie about racial relations than any other I've ever seen. It was a very unique take on the issue, showing how we're ALL scared shitless, how we can ALL be racist, but ultimately, it's also a story of hope too, showing how when push comes to shove, in many cases, human empathy wins over racism. That's why Matt Dillon was up for an award - his character was an amazing depiction about how someone in one moment can be a racist asshole because of everything he's had to deal with in his life, yet deep down inside, he was willing to risk his life to save someone.

I'm sorry, but you totally missed something if you didn't see the extreme poignancy in this movie.

It's not like Shakespeare in Love beat out Brokeback Mountain. An extremely worthy film beat it.

[LaurenG]

93. I liked it

I liked the message and I liked the actors/acting. It was disturbing and it was eye opening. :shrug:

[DainBramaged]

94. A bad movie for a bad year of movies

I rented it when it hit DVD.

It made it to about 45 minutes and it was ejected.

This Crash was exceedingly better.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6305161968/104-7165417-5335946?v=glance&n=130

[SpecialK]

98. THANK YOU

I found this movie painful to sit through.....it was completely contrived, unrealistic and didactic. While I admire the statements they were trying to make, and do think the acting was good given the awful script, it was just not a good film.

I was really shocked...

[mondo joe]

99. Big Budget Diversity Training Video. That is all.

[Cats Against Frist]

131. Good Gravy, we finally agree on something, for once!

:hi:

[alcibiades_mystery]

107. That's where you and I part company

I didn't even admire the statements it was trying to make. ;-)

What schlock it was. Ugh.

[skypilot]

101. Not only did it suck.... (SPOILER AHEAD)

...it was actually kind of offensive. I'm a black man and the movie lost me right from the start. You have two black men complaining about being stereotyped as criminals only to immediately whip out guns and reveal themselves to be ACTUAL CRIMINALS. What the fuck?!?!
If someone who liked this movie could explain to me what this scene was supposed to be saying then maybe, MAYBE I'll try to give the movie a second look but in the meantime I agree with the OP, the movie sucked. Not only was I shocked that it won Best Picture, I was shocked to discover that it had been nominated at all. For anything.

[mondo joe]

102. That was Crash's way of thinking of itself as clever and daring.

It was all mashing two extreme stereotypes. Pretty clumsy, if you ask me.

[skypilot]

105. I thought it was more than clumsy.

Like I said, I thought it was downright offensive. It was as though the movie was suggesting that it's justifiable to stereotype black men as criminals because, despite their protestations, they really ARE criminals. I can't begin to imagine what this movie--especially with this scene--thought it was adding to the discussion on race.

[alcibiades_mystery]

108. Clumsy as all git out

The supposed "breaking down" of stereotypes was nothing of the sort (as if stereotypes are even the fucking issue when it comes to race).

[jeffrey_X]

109. I guess it all depends on how much race and racism have an effect on you..

I'm a white guy married to an African American woman. We both thought it was a great movie, but then again we talk a lot about race and race plays a part in our lives.

I think it bothered people to have to confront their prejudices. For instance, the hispanic locksmith. I'll be everyone who saw the movie thought this guys was going to something bad. I did and I've got no problems admitting it. But at least I'm not suppressing those feelings and pretend they don't exist.

You are wrong. I thought it was a great movie.

[mondo joe]

111. To the contrary - your experience doesn't improve the quality of the

storytelling.

You're judging based on topic rather than craft, if you think how much the topic effects your life.

[jeffrey_X]

114. Thanks for telling me

how I interperted the movie.

Look...I didn't say it was the perfect movie or the best movie of all time. I just thought it was a very good movie and deserved to be up for the Oscar. Any of those 5 movies could have won and it would have been fine with me.

[mondo joe]

126. I didn't tell you how you interpreted the movie. I said that your

frame of reference doesn't change the quality of the product.

[alcibiades_mystery]

112. It didn't force anyone to confront anything

Its depiction of race (allegorical or otherwise) was simplistic at best, fodder for afternoon specials at worst. The very reason that it sucked is that it didn't force you to confront anything at all. It just replayed and staged the most trivial assumptions about race that organize our relation to it in American society. "Oh, this guy's NOT a criminal, and those guys ARE! Oh, fucking wow, man, I better not take things on appearance, but learn their true nature and complexity before I make a judgment, tra la la..." That's edgy? That's confrontational? Shit, you get that on TV sit coms. You get that on Head of the Fucking Class. You wanna give that show a fucking Oscar? :rofl:

[skypilot]

118. And with Sandra Bullock's character...

...the movie eventually seemed to back away from race altogether. See, she's not really racist, she's just lashing out because she's lonely and alienated. Hey, her Hispanic housekeeper is actually her best friend and if she pulls he shawl tight around her when she sees two black guys, well, she should because they're going to carjack her. Ugh. I can't emphasize enough how much I disliked this movie.

[mondo joe]

128. That's the movie: "Even good people are racist, and even

racists do good things".

Or something.

[SpecialK]

116. Exactly

...the movie was so transparent and manipulative that I felt the opposite of what it wanted me to feel. It was so obvious that they WANTED me to believe that the hispanic locksmith was up to no good, just to redeem him in the end and make me have some big racial epiphany. But that was all so painfully obvious that I was left feeling angry that the movie makers would make assumptions about my predjudices or non-predjudices.


This is why it was a bad movie - it had all of these things that it WANTED you to believe only to pull the rug out from underneath these beliefs in the end. A good movie, a good book, a good piece of any art effects the viewer through nuance, through subtlety. It doesn't force ideas on you or make assumptions about what the viewer is thinking. A good movie offers the viewer a personal journey widely open to interpretation - this movie did not, and for that reason it was not a good film.

[mondo joe]

129. I wish I had a magic cloak like his to protect me from bad movies

like Crash.

[NVMojo]

117. I disagree. It was a good movie. People just hate admitting racism

is alive and well in day to day live today and not just in the 60s

[mondo joe]

130. Admitting racism is alive and well does not make for a good movie.

There are a number of excellent movies that do address race, without being trite or self congratulatory like Crash.

[LiberalGuy000]

132. really, now...

NVMojo: Your argument has already been worn out. The idea that we didn't like Crash because we don't want to admit that racism exists is preposterous!

Our opinion is that it was a terrible movie. That's why we didn't like it. Surely you can understand that simple concept.

[underpants]

119. Question about Terrence Howard

Was Benicio Del Toro not available?

Sorry someone had to say it.

[rustydog]

124. You are wrong....Name your winner, no let me guess

You thoroughy LOVED Brokeback mountain and are incensed and insulted that the academy buckled to pressure directly from the Bush White House to deny Brokeback the Oscar.

[dr.zoidberg]

125. No one in this movie is likable, at all.

I'm serious. No one deserved to have anything goos happen to them at all. They all deserved to die at the nd of the movie, preferably in hilarious ways.

[TrogL]

127. Am I missing something? *Mild spoilers*

I noticed it was on pay-per-view right after the Oscars. The Oscars ran late (or early, depending on your viewpoint) so I missed the first 15 minutes.

When I joined, two black teenagers were arguing racism, one saying the other was finding EVERYTHING racist, which seemed a fairly good analysis of his behaviour. Then some white bitch (apparently wife of a district attorney) went off on a repetitious, racist rant.

I turned it off.

I lived through this - I don't need it on my TV set.

[LiberalGuy000]

133. You were wise

Hopefully you spent less than the $10 I spent to see the movie.