How much did I hate Crash?

[Ramsey]

I knew I wouldn't like the movie Crash. But it did win the Oscar, and lots of people said it was really worth seeing, so I put it on my Netflix list.

We started to watch it last night, and 30 minutes in, I figured all the main characters had probably been introduced. By 40 minutes in, I knew I hated nearly every person in this movie. They were all just so miserable, angry and totally unlikeable. Except for the Hispanic locksmith, so I just knew he would die before the end of the film. I wouldn't have minded seeing the story arc for Brendan Fraser's attorney general, but his wife Sandra Bullock was such a harpy!

But even worse than that, the racism theme was so over-the-top, stab-you-in-the-head obvious. Is this what passes for great dialogue these days? Characters overtly proclaiming their racist stereotypes and then acting upon them? After 10 minutes I was screaming: "OK, you're all racists ot racist stereotypes, I get it!"

I turned the movie off at about minute 43. I just couldn't stomach another minute. It is very rare for me not to watch a movie all the way through. I am certainly glad I didn't go to the theater for this one. I would have walked out.

[supernova]

1. I didn't like it either

I recorded a couple of weeks ago since it was showing on cable, so I thought, well, why not?

Ugh. I don't remember much about it. The only characters I felt any sympathy for were the two carjackers. Their bits leading up to the carjacking were well played and bitterly funny. I would have been happy with a movie about them.

But other than that, it was a bunch of dispicable people.

[tjdee]

2. So you missed most of the point of the film, LOL. Esp. the locksmith.

Wow, the locksmith's story was the best part of the whole movie and I would have watched just to see that play itself out. It doesn't go how you think.

It's kind of frustrating to me that you didn't watch the entire film (what you really watched was the setup) and you hated it...that's your right and everything... Lots of people who've seen the whole thing hate it, LOL! But still... a major pet peeve of mine is people who don't watch the whole movie. I always do, just so I can concretely say "Yo, I hated that piece of shit".

That has happened a few times with Jennifer Aniston films. :puke:

[Ramsey]

11. Well,l as I said

It is rare that I don't finish watching a movie. I think my biggest problem with it was that the dialogue was so stilted, so caricaturish. The whole thing smashed you over the head with its racism theme. I just couldn't get through it.

[theophilus]

3. We also had to turn it off. Very visceral. Then we turned it back on

and liked it a lot. It is thought provoking and makes some good points about our "culture", imho. I guess lots of folks think that we have solved all of our racial conflicts and we need to move on to dealing with homophobia. It could be argued that there are still lots of problems among different racial and ethnic groups.

I don't know if most people know they are going to hate Crash because they wanted Brokeback to win. Maybe Brokeback was too far out in front. Maybe it is just a little ahead of its time. I suggest that you give Crash another chance. Some of the characters grow. It is "just a movie", as were all the other nominees. If you can't watch it, that's fine. We just found that we were glad we turned it back on.

[tjdee]

4. Brokeback was "ahead of its time"? What?

I'm always amazed to hear this kind of praise heaped upon Brokeback.

WHY was it ahead of its time? Because the two leads were men?

It was a love story, period. There have been a gazillion love stories done in Hollywood. There have been "different" love stories done.

I just...don't get it. Maybe because it was directed by a great filmmaker (Ang Lee), the performances were so strong... maybe that they were cowboys...? I would concede that is maybe the first film put out by a major studio where the entire story is about the relationship....and that may speak to cultural/societal issues, but the Oscars are on the merit of the actual film. I think some feel it should have won for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual film itself.

I'm sure it is a great film, but I don't think it was trailblazing/visionary/ahead of its time. Total confusion on that.

[Ramsey]

12. May do that.

My husband wanted to finis it, does it actually get any better, acquire any subtlety whatsoever?

[rockymountaindem]

15. No. It sucks all the way through.

The only thing is that everybody has some cheesy epiphany about how wrong they had been about racism.

[Paladin]

5. "Crash" Will Be Forgotten In A Couple Of Years.....

....other than occasional articles and discussions about how the Best Picture Oscar goes to an unworthy movie, every once in a while. I saw it, I liked it well enough, but I didn't think it had much in the way of script, acting, directing or production values beyond what you see in a made-for-TV flick.

People will be watching and admiring "Brokeback Mountain" for decades to come.....

[Coventina]

10. I haven't seen "Crash" but I agree with you about "Brokeback Mountain"

It's a masterpiece on many different levels.

I watched it Tuesday night and I am still haunted by it.

[LSdemocrat]

6. The movie was more about verbalizing what people think inside

BTW, the locksmith doesn't die, if that makes you feel any better.

[alarcojon]

9. The verbalizing of people's interior dialogue

was, IMO, way too heavy-handed. And I found the whole movie contrived.

[Ramsey]

13. LOL

Well, that's good to know.

[leftofthedial]

7. "I knew I wouldn't like the movie Crash."

the rest was superfluous.

[Ramsey]

17. That's a good point

Based on what I had read and heard about Crash, it didn't sound like my kind of film. However, I was honestly willing to give a fair viewing. If not, I wouldn't have rented it at all. It just lost me.

[Swede]

8. You missed the best movie of 2005.

Too bad.

[rockymountaindem]

14. Amen. And I watched the whole thing.

As someone said upthread, it was all about verbalizing what people usually keep to themselves. That, to me, is not an accurate depiction of the racist problem, which is that people pretend to be tolerant while allowing prejudices to influence them to some extent. A bunch of people going around, basically proclaiming to be racist in front of the very groups they hate is not realistic. As a result, the movie was indeed over the top and full of stereotypes.

Walk the Line and Munich were far, far better. The only complaint I have with Munich is that it is far too long and they could have made a better film by cutting out at least half an hour of screen time.

[henslee]

16. Bravo. Crash was pretentious thespian drivel. That stuff will kill you.

Keep your bullshit detector set to kill. Happy moviegoing.

[catzies]

18. I had the exact same reaction you did-got it in the first 10 minutes,found

the rest of the movie to be obvious, predictable and not at all praiseworthy.

[begin_within]

19. It was unrealistic. Most people in Los Angeles are too self-absorbed to

waste any of their precious time thinking about "other races of people" and all that. The movie is basically just the producer's over-reaction to a real-life carjacking he experienced in L.A.

[Shine]

20. It's too bad you didn't watch the whole thing b/c you missed a lot.

yes, the stereotypical racist roles are there. That was the whole point. They were laid out in the early part of the movie, then de-constructed, if you will, and in the end, there were themes of redemption and healing. To me, it was an incredibly powerful movie that I will not soon forget.

Oh well. To each, their own, I guess....

:hi: