CRASH

[thehefner]

Well, I finally saw CRASH (the Best Picture winner, not the Cronennerg James Spader/Holly Hunter open-wound fuckfest), and all I can say is thank god I didn't actually pay money to see it.

Now, I'm not gonna call it the dumbest movie ever like my Mom did, but I am curious to know if anyone else found this movie to be an incredibly obvious, cliched, stupid, beat-it-into-your-head, cloying, manipulative, simpering every-antonym-of-subtle bit of Oscar-baiting Hollywood crap?

Just wondering.

Comments

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

I liked all the best picture nominees this year, which surprised me, but as I told Mike Barron 'all the other nominees were pretty subtle; Crash was wallop upside the head, pounding it into you with a hammer.' I was hoping more for Capote or Brokeback to win.

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

Yes! Oh god yes.

I did.

[seangrimm.livejournal.com]

I liked the cast of Crash but yeah it was a rather blunt movie in plot.

[gore-whore-5.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. I was so fucking angry when I heard it won best picture. I was hoping for anything but Crash. Grr. Lea angry. Lea smash.

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

Hated it. Hated. It.

[sabine42.livejournal.com]

Well, I liked it, thought there was definitly some good acting, even if it was a bit obvious at times.

But what made me like it were the moments where it didn't take the obvious choice. And watching as many depressing, "pointed", everything is doomed art movies as I tend to, you get used to the obvious "something bad" which they didn't go for EVERY time in this movie.

But of all the best picture nominees, it's weird to say, this was the "safe" choice for the Academy to make...didn't think it was the best, but I thought all the movies were good.

[morganashkevron.livejournal.com]

I disagree - I really enjoyed this movie. It confronts racism head-on in an honest way that is rough and direct and (sometimes) predictable. Crash showed it from all sides - the way people look at each other without seeing beyond skin color, the way we hurt each other with ignorance and fear. And the characters in the movie were more than two-dimensional caricatures that you usually see in a movie about racism. I mean, Matt Dillon was a complete asshole and a bigot, but he was also angry about his father's company and struggling to take care of him. Sandra Bullock's character doesn't even realize she's carrying these prejudices until the end of the movie. And unfortunately I think that's how most people live. They don't even realize that their actions and words and thoughts have racial undertones.

Also, Crash was made outside of Hollywood - a truly independent film. The entire thing was made for about $5 million without any big-name producers or writers or directors. They deserve the Oscar for telling an ugly story about flawed people in an honest way that also gives you a sense of hope at the end. Maybe the symbols are obvious and the theme beats you over the head, but just because your average joe can understand it doesn't make it a bad movie.

/rant

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Roger Ebert (the only critic whose writing I don't simply dismiss out of hand) had interesting piece on reactions from people who expected Brokeback Mountain to beat out Crash. A LOT of people felt the way you do. (You weren't campaigning for Brokeback, but it sounds like you can't imagine why Crash won, either.)

I haven't seen it, and had decided not to after reading the reviews. The fact that it wasn't nominated for best screenplay seemed ominous to me; how can the Best Movie at least have a shot at the Best Screenplay? A great movie is a good story well told, but the Academy is in a position too often to look at the "well told" part without looking at the "great story" part. It sounds like the movie lacks any drop of subtlety, and that's just no fun.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Brokeback yet, and I mean to. Nor have I seen Munich, which I really regret missing.

Unfortunately, unlike my mother, I absolutely can see why Crash won. It's for all the same reasons that I think the Academy Awards are worthless (an opinion I shall hold unless someone I like wins or until I win one myself). I have trouble seeing how Ebert could have been so moved by it, but whatever. There's no critic I'm gonna agree with all the time.

Crash, as Mom put it, is every stupid cliche and stereotype of racism, all delivered in the form of angry shouting by most of the characters.

There was one scene that I truly did love, which is the scene depicted on the poster between Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton (who I just wanted to punch the entire film). But only because I'm a sucker for scenes like that, and I don't think it really accomplished anything in the story ultimately other than to be an interesting scene.

[frumple.livejournal.com]

I sort of agree. Yes there was tons of blatent emotional manipulation 9which annyoed me). Yes, the story was not all that much. However, there were some really good performances.

[irish-caffeine.livejournal.com]

I agree with Amanda. I like Crash for addressing the problem of racism in America as a complex multi-faceted problem.

In a way, I like Crash for the same reason that I dislike American History X. People love watching American History X because Edward Nortan's character is an easy villain. The audience can leave the theater thinking: 'Isn't racism a very bad thing? Aren't people like that just awful?' It points the finger at a neo-nazi shithead and perpetuates the myth that racism is the fault of a few violent extremists. It doesn't require the public to question their own fears and prejudices. I think Crash deserves credit for dealing with a more subtle and prevalent form of bigotry, and suggesting that maybe this problem is everyone's fault.

Of course good intentions do not necessarily make a good movie, but I enjoyed this one very much. I didn't find the plot to be predictable at all. 'Predictable' would have been letting the car explode with the people in it, or having the little girl actually get shot.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I never called it predictable.

[pondering-duck.livejournal.com]

Actually I just said it was the weakest movie of the nominations...sorry

If you want me to join the picket line, though, i'll do it, just for you baby.

[pondering-duck.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, you don't know me and I don't think i know you but you should probably know, that your icon is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It seriously gave me chills and kind of made me miss my Teddy Bears.

Also, yes, Crash (something considerably less cute) was very blunt, I agree.