The Bottom Line
- Movie intelligently takes on the all-important topic of racial prejudice in America
- The ensemble acting in the large cast is exceptionally good
- Film is an earnest plea for tolerance
- Movie is a bit preachy and heavy-handed for my taste
- Story feels too contrived to me, cooked up to illustrate sociological ideas
- Some familiar with Los Angeles claim the movie presents a false image of the city
Description
- DVD containing drama Crash (2004) about racial prejudice in America
- Movie won 3 Academy Awards, including Best Picture
- DVD contains audio commentary by director, screenwriter, and actor Don Cheadle
- DVD has 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette
- DVD contains 15-second intro by writer-director Paul Haggis
- DVD has four-minute music video "If I …" performed by Kansascali
- Two single-disc editions available, one in widescreen, other in full frame, both with above extras
- MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual content and some violence
- Feature run time: 1 hour 52 minutes
- DVD release date: September 6, 2005 (two-disc director's cut edition available April 4, 2006)
Guide Review - Crash DVD
Crash won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and I recommend it because it intelligently takes on the all-important topic of racial prejudice in America. Also, I found the acting exceptionally good, and I admired director Paul Haggis's skillful handling of the large cast. However, it seems to me the film emphasizes theme at the expense of character development and plot plausibility. The result is a bit too preachy and contrived for my taste.
Set in Los Angeles, the story has many threads, but I would say most of them center around law enforcement types: two white police officers (Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe); two police detectives, one black (Don Cheadle), the other Latina (Jennifer Esposito); and the D.A. (Brendan Fraser) and his pampered wife (Sandra Bullock). Other key characters include a pair of black carjackers (Ludacris and Larenz Tate), a prosperous black couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton), an Iranian shopkeeper, an Asian who sells humans, and a Latino locksmith.
Although I wasn't entirely satisfied with the overall film, it does have some powerful scenes, such as the one where a white racist cop harasses an African-American couple.
Crash is available in two single-disc DVD editions (one widescreen, the other full frame), both containing an audio commentary and a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. Available April 4, 2006, there's also a two-disc edition containing a director's cut.
