Crash: WTF?

Okay, I finally broke down and watched Crash, that movie that was so critically approved. And then realized that it was such a mistake.

I've been avoiding this movie because it deals with racial issues, and I'm trying to avoid those (my GWC blog deals with that just a bit too much). However, about halfway into it, I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Not plotwise; that's rather simple considering the shows I watch. I'm trying to figure out why. The biggest thing that I'm trying to figure out is how this thing was even nominated for an award.

All of these people are running around being idiots. I know racism exists; that's not an issue. However, the movie was written with the broadest of strokes and by the numbers. You can tell when the acts break, and once the endings to the various ends start coming up, you can predict the twists. The biggest issue I have is all of the random racism that just keeps happening, The writer is trying too hard to drive the point home that racism is bad, and that anyone can be racist.

However, it just goes too far. When you have the cop go from racist to okay to using racism as a way to get the surgery for his father, it starts getting thin. When the younger cop all of a sudden starts panicking when he picks up the black man, it really gets weird. But when it starts giving everyone ironic ends, it starts getting silly.

It's just that it seems so forced; in order to have racist events events happen, you need so many of the people to go against their normal behaviors that it seems contrived, and that just seems ridiculous after a bit. There was just nothing real about the situations after a bit, and that everyone was acting a role rather than being real. There was just nothing solid to it, and I started actually laughing.

So...did anyone take this movie seriously, or are my impressions off?

Danke!
FR

[In this case, I'm asking if there was too much stuff going on for, or if just got silly because of the sheer number of things going on. Let me rephrase then: ]

For me, there were three major problems with this movie:

1) Overkill on the theme. I have no problem with the theme in and of itself; racism is something that should be explored every so often, if for no other reason than to ensure that we learn and don't make the same mistakes for eternity. It was also interesting that it's idea was that people aren't necessarily racist all the time, but only in specific situations. However, the theme was repeated far too often, with no time for the audience to really think about what it had just seen, and not letting up on it, as every scene had to mention racism. I would have loved a few minutes to absorb the situation, but you usually only had a few seconds to do that before the next scene started up.

Although I like that there was some balance (such as the one black man amused by his friend's theories), the characters suffered, becoming slaves to the theme, and losing any hope of being even two-dimensional. Worse, you had characters just being stupid; I appreciate that characters shouldn't always work in their best interest, but there were just too many times that the character's had no reason for acting as they did, especially at the end (whereas, I understand why the rookie cop would have freaked at the end, and I normally would have loved how it worked, it felt forced because of how the other storylines ended).

When you have a cameo by Tony Danza should to make sure people get the point, it's a bit too much...

The writer even found time to throw in two other themes (the anti-gun message and that love/career need to be balanced (with no less than three couples having love/career issues, and Don Cheadle having to balance family as well as love)).

2) The ironic endings. I appreciate the need to wrap up storylines, especially in a one-shot such as this, there were just too many endings, and everyone of them had to be ironic (like Bullock's character realizing that she was angry all the time, and needed to seek therapy, but then having an accident where only the her maid could help her). Not only was the theme reinforced just a bit too much, but there were just too many endings. I'm not saying that the endings in and of themselves didn't work, just that there were far too many of them, and some storylines (such as Bullock's and Phillipe's) even had two endings. Worse, you had endings for storylines just to show racism (like the Chinese woman looking for her husband at the end) or to build on the other themes (the locksmith and Don Cheadle's mother).

I hate master endings (where all of the various storylines are tied together and end there), but this movie could have used a few more. At the very least, some endings didn't need to happen.

3) Weird character issues. A cop known for racism should have been fired, especially in LA (where the movie took place); he's a lawsuit waiting to happen to a police force that's had to deal with too many lawsuits as is. It's weird that too may people forgot other people, even though they would have had reason to remember them. Did I mention Tony Danza?

There just wasn't enough character building, unless it necessary for the them (such as showing Matt Dillion's family life, just so he could have another racist encounter with Devine). I know that every scene should make the plot go forward, but it starts feeling oppressive after a bit.

The only thing that I can think of is that there were way too many characters and storylines going on, and so it got weird...

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It should be noted that I'm not saying it was a horrible film. However, it does need a bit of pruning in some places, and building up in others. It's an interesting look at racism, but not one that's going to remembered more than a few years from now...

FR

NikeeGoddess said:

that is such a sexist thing to say. how dare you tell us when to explore something and when we explore too much?! if it doesn't hit home for you then go ahead and ignore it but you cannot dictate what others might thing is significantly important to explore.

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Er....Sexist? I'm looking at this being a writer's forum where we can discuss films from a writer's perspective. You'll note that I didn't slam it from a straight critic's perspective, but from a writer's perspective. I noticed a number of flaws, and am seeing if I was alone in noting them and am delirious.

You'll note that I'm not nailing from an anti-racist perspective, and that it's an obvious hedge; I'm trying to nail the movie about its writing flaws, without having to worry about the racism issues. You'll note that I'm harping on the theme being over-used in the movie, and that's my issue with it.

It being a TV series scrunched down makes a lot of sense; if this had been spread over three or four episodes, with no enforced time, this would have been a lot cooler. A lot of needed fluff could have been added, and it could have been more effective.

what you didn't get was that the scenes were events that were going on simultaneously with various characters - it wasn't one after the other involving the same guy.

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Got that, actually. It's the old roller-coaster issue: If you keep pressure up, or keep increasing it without letting off, the roller-coaster isn't any fun. On the other hand, if you have sections where the riders can catch their breath, it's more effective.

By keeping up the pressure, and not letting the audience breath, you eliminate any tension. After a while, it's just, "Oh, another scene about the inherent racism of man. Goody." There's a reason effective fight movies have the fighters go to the corner every so often; you can't build tension just by increasing it, you need to let it relax a bit before you tighten it further. Crash never let the tension relax, and so it disappeared after a bit.

that's just rude. tony danza is an actor just like the others. why does his appearance make you think it's a farce?

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Mr. Danza has a rep as a nice guy; using him as a racist character would have been effective, except that the movie has nothing but racist characters, or characters victimizing or being victimized. As such, his showing up and victimizing someone just felt...weird. It could have been used so much more effectively.

yeah but in real life this doesn't happen. there are racist cops in every police force and LA has a reputation for having one of the biggest problems in the country. remember marc furman?

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Definitely. However, placing it in LA actually killed the tension. We expect racism from LA cops, and, as almost every character but the locksmith acts stereotypically, it just adds to the number of cardboard people.

maybe not remembered by you but any oscar winning best picture hit home with a lot of people.

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Two obvious notes:
1) An Oscar-winner need not always hit home (Titanic, anyone?).
2) Keep in mind that there were a lot of people that pointed out that there was PC wave that Crash took advantage of.

However, I'm not worried about the racism theme; I'm more interested in how the movie was written, and how to improve my own writing. And, yeah, I have some work to do on it, but looking at other films helps that. For what it's worth...

FR