Crash  

I'm looking forward to this one too.

GREAT movie.
The content is so good, I wouldn't care much if it didn't give my subs a workout.
It's "great foreign movie" good.
It definitely sparks the conversations after you see it.
Make sure you see it with a lot of friends of different colors and backgrounds... :D

I saw the movie in theaters.

To me the movie was nothing special, don't get me wrong it had some good moments, and the performances where great.

Some things are overdone in this movie( you guys will see when you watch it)

I would say this movie is a renter, because I wouldn't watch it more then once.

for all you jennifer esposito fans, she gets naked in it

A very good movie. If it had a bit more script polishing and better tied the loose parts together, this could have been another Pulp Fiction. Perfect casting with outstanding performances. The best movie I've seen in at least the past 6 months. Maybe there is hope for getting some decent movies after all.

b2b

Well,I liked it,a lot.It starts with a homage of sorts to PF and then turns into something else.B2b has a point though,especially towards the end parts of the film seem a little rushed,almost like they were filming a rough draft.But still there are more ideas expressed in this film than a dozen normal hollywood movies,and most are done very well.It really left me feeling that I had just watched something very special.And its definately a film I would watch more than once.

I read a novel in the 90's called "Crash" about this cult of people that got off on staging and being part of car crashes - the bigger one they could survive the better. It was very thought provoking and very twisted.

Question: shortly after I read the book, a movie called "Crash" came out that had nothing to do with the book. So is this "Crash" the one that follows the plot of the book by the same name?

Nope this one has nothing to do with the book.

There is a 1996 Cronenberg movie out called "Crash" with James Spader & Holly Hunter that is as you describe; not for the easily disturbed...

MiD

I remember seeing that :D Definitely for the twisted...

I'm looking forward to seeing this Crash, current version, tonight.

Good movie, great rental.

The David Cronenberg film Crash is based on a novel by J.G. Ballard (Empire of the Sun) and is exactly as you describe.

The new film with same title is unrelated and is about racism.

I think racism is only part of what its about.

I watched it tonight. I wasn't overwhelmed. Thought it tried too hard. Liked Cheadle's performance, understated as usual. He's going to develop into the next Morgan Freeman. Notice how MF's roles are all starting to resemble each other? It's most likely because he fits an archetype and does it so well. I can easily see Cheadle finding the same niche as he ages.

Ron,have you seen Devil With A Blue Dress On?Cheadle plays Mouse,an amoral killer whose only saving grace is that he's the hero's best friend.Agree fully with your opinion of him.

Although "devil in a blue dress" is a blur to me, Don Cheadle's performance as mouse was simply unforgettable.
He's definitely one of the best actors in Hollywood right now.

This may not be totally accurate-my memories are blurry too:


Mouse:(sounding hurt) "If you didn't want me to shoot him,whydya have me watching him?


classic...

I thought this movie was downright terrible. The characters were mostly just stereotypes that mouthed dialogue that sounded like it would come right out of a textbook conversation on racism. The film lacked any kind of subtlety or complexity and completely missed the mark. All the performances seemed forced.

It could've been a great film about LA and the tension that bubbles just underneath the surface of this city, but it only focused on one issue and forced that issue to a level that made it seem downright cheesy. I was sorely disappointed.

Joekun, I saw it last nite, and you more or less hit the mark.

I did somewhat enjoy it, even with its numerous faults. There were several entertaining scenes, and they propelled the movie forward, even if the script did not.

I have never seen so many forced acting performances in one film. None of the off-kilter characters are given time to develop, except when we see each characters's transformation to being "on-kilter".

Still its a somewhat interesting film, just horribly directed and scripted and acted...

I don't remember... :) I think so. Anyway, I'll keep an eye out.

John and Joe,

I think you both said it better than I did about the movie as a whole. Cheadle as usual seemed right with his characterization and performance.

Well I just watched Crash, and I thought it to be an interesting film. Someone earlier put it in the same category as Pulp Fiction. Not even close in my book. It actually reminded me more of "Magnolia". Most likely due to it's "six degrees of separation" type thing it had going. Obviously the film was trying to make a point about racism in America, although I'm not really sure what it was. Maybe if nothing else, to show how inspite of racial distrust and dislike, how much we all really depend on each other. Interesting that they had it snow in L.A. Again, I flashed back to Magnolia, and the infamous "Frog" scene.

I thought of Tarantino early in the film as well. When the two black men were talking about how they waited in the restaurant, etc. It sounded as though the writer was going for a Tarantinoesque feel to the dialogue, but instead ended up with what sounded more like the random thoughts of the writer on racism.

Ditto

One other thing that bothered me is the Koreans (they are clearly Koreans though are only ever identified by others as Chinese) are the only ones that are portrayed as entirely bad.



I'm not sure what was trying to be said there.

Actually,I thought the film was more about labeling others we encounter in life in order to simplify our response to them-sorta a shorthand method of human relationships.Most our social encounters on a daily basis are based on filling a mutual need and getting to know those we have to interact with as individual human beings is both time consuming and somewhat annoying.So we put a label on them-black man,white man,best friend,mother,etc. because we have a standard response to each of those types.What he's trying to say is that we don't relate to other people as people except in time of crisis,at which time we usually behave far better than we normally do towards our fellow man.The first conversation in the car between the man and woman sets it all out.The guy has a theory that people purposely get involved in accidents just for the real human contact.
I'm not saying he did a real good job making his point-clearly,he didn't.But the idea of racism as a symptom of a deeper social problem is intriging.

I thought the movie tried too hard to make a point. So much sounded and felt unnatural coming from the characters, but they did their best and I understand the message, I'm glad I finished the whole movie....I liked the music.

Great analysis!

Now that's a movie I'd like to see again. Rosanna Arquette got F'ed up bigtime and well enjoyed it all the while. :)

To everyone that watched Crash and though it was about racism:

You need to watch the movie again you didn't get it.

Exactly.

Cheadle's character said it all in the very first scene, we've become so insulated and isolated from our fellow man that our true humanity is reduced to those brief moments when we are forced to react without forethought. It's at those moments that one truly sees what they are "made of".

Watched it tonight and I couldn't understand the hype about it. I am glad I just rented it.