Crash

Name: Crash
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: May 6, 2005
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock

2005

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 718 Ratings

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8.5

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8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 718 Ratings

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Crash

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Movie Details & Credits

Lions Gate Films | Release Date: May 6, 2005 | Unrated

Starring: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock

Summary: A provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America. Diving headlong into the diverse melting pot of post-9/11 Los Angeles, this compelling urban drama tracks the volatile intersections of a multi-ethnic case of characters' struggles to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of oneA provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America. Diving headlong into the diverse melting pot of post-9/11 Los Angeles, this compelling urban drama tracks the volatile intersections of a multi-ethnic case of characters' struggles to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of one another's lives. (Lions Gate Films) … Expand

Director: Paul Haggis

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 112 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Steve Davis

It's the most compelling American movie to come around in a long, long time. Read full review

100

David Denby

Hyper-articulate and often breathtakingly intelligent and always brazenly alive. I think it's easily the strongest American film since Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River," though it is not for the fainthearted. Read full review

Steven Rea

Crash fools around with chronology in a Tarantinoesque way that brings its story full circle. You could argue that as events, and people, merge, Haggis' spiky screenplay (cowritten with Bobby Moresco) gets to be, quite simply, too much. Read full review

William Arnold

Crash can't rise from the ashes of its pessimism. Read full review

Michael Atkinson

Full of well-observed supporting riffs, Crash might've accumulated more frisson had it cast a clearer eye on how social tension actually plays. Read full review

Carina Chocano

Any glimpse of emotional honesty comes courtesy of the actors, who manage to do a credible job despite the material. Read full review

David Edelstein

It might even have been a landmark film about race relations had its aura of blunt realism not been dispelled by a toxic cloud of dramaturgical pixie dust. Read full review

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User Reviews

MovieGuys

May 14, 2014

Crash is one real exceptionally well-done film. The theme of racism really slaps you in the face, but it is followed by other underlying messages, such as redemption. The exposés to the first two vignettes are a tiny bit forced, but the transitions are smooth for all of them and the scriptCrash is one real exceptionally well-done film. The theme of racism really slaps you in the face, but it is followed by other underlying messages, such as redemption. The exposés to the first two vignettes are a tiny bit forced, but the transitions are smooth for all of them and the script is sharp and deliberate. Where the movie lacks it makes up for in acting, screenplay, and direction. Haggis knows what he's doing.… Expand

20 of 21 users found this helpful201

Jun 19, 2005

This is the BEST movie I have seen in a LONG time! I loved it. I found it to be amazingly honest and accurate, especially involving truths most Americans want to forget or dismiss. It portrays our sub-conscious (or conscious) deeply ingrained intolerance and racism, and gives a voice to a This is the BEST movie I have seen in a LONG time! I loved it. I found it to be amazingly honest and accurate, especially involving truths most Americans want to forget or dismiss. It portrays our sub-conscious (or conscious) deeply ingrained intolerance and racism, and gives a voice to a large percentage of people who are discriminated against, even by seeming "politically correct" minded people. I also liked how it shows how we are intricately connected, and how everything we do affects many other people without our full awareness. THANK YOU for this amazing film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AndrewBurge

Sep 11, 2018

Paul Haggis's 'Crash' its so much more than ye-olde-school racism. It is about the lack of human connections and mental damages brought up by living in modern America. More specifically, Los Angeles. A metropolis feeding on the minds of people, overflowing with concepts of hatred and angerPaul Haggis's 'Crash' its so much more than ye-olde-school racism. It is about the lack of human connections and mental damages brought up by living in modern America. More specifically, Los Angeles. A metropolis feeding on the minds of people, overflowing with concepts of hatred and anger brought by its hectic pace.

"It's the sense of touch" says Detective Graham (Don Cheadle) after a close-call car accident. "In LA nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just to feel something". His partner and lover Ria (Jennifer Esposito) thinks he might have lost his frame of reference, which might be true. But these ideas were always deep inside him and maybe this brush with mortality just made them come forth.

The film spawns a glassy and gloomy soundtrack occasionally containing sublime and dramatic world music and its visual style is polished and deeply introspective. Shots follow the characters beautifully as they clash with the surrounding neon lights of the big city. There is technical prowess in 'Crash' and, like all great films, there is no moment of pause. Los Angeles is the Haggis's chosen melting pot for not only necessarily race, but varying human ideologies. The 5-6 subplots are switched from one to another with relative ease, and often they split into more or they rejoin one another.

Yet deep down, this is a film not about racial discrimination and eventual awareness, but about people and how ridiculous they can be. Scenes are switched at a fast pace, yet there is not one which is not interesting. Each one is focused, thorough and in a couple of minutes Haggis is more psychoanalytical than most films are in hours. He puts his characters in worst-case scenarios which they pass, but this might just be the first film which is about the lingering emotions brought up by those situations rather than the situations themselves. It is this what makes this film truly emotionally powerful.

It's funny how things work. And as the film progresses each of its characters are drawn to an eventual silver-lining; most of them finding solace, overcoming and awakening from their emotional coldness. Snow falls over Los Angeles as people go on about their lives. Just like before, consumed by quotidian anarchy masquerading as order, feeling regret, love, hate, sadness; and I felt everything too. It was so familiar. But in the end, I just laughed at everything and thought to myself: "people, man... people".… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

EagleNo4

May 7, 2005

Crash is a compelling drama that examines the cultural, ethic and racial conflicts in American society. Most of the characters in this film are angry ... angry at the seemingly lack of control they have over their own lives, a circumstance they blame on everyone who is not racially Crash is a compelling drama that examines the cultural, ethic and racial conflicts in American society. Most of the characters in this film are angry ... angry at the seemingly lack of control they have over their own lives, a circumstance they blame on everyone who is not racially identical to themselves. Appropriately, the movie begins with a car operated by an Asian woman crashing into the rear of a car operated by a Latino woman and in which a black man is a passenger (symbolically, a clash of cultures). As the Asian confronts the Latino, claiming that the other "blaked" too fast, the Negro reflects that modern day society has separated people into areas protected by "glass and steel" so that they no longer are in touch with each other and eventually people become so angry with this situation that they feel compelled to crash into someone just to have contact with another human being. In a typical scene where the characters are angry at the stereotypes that others categorizes them in, while not realizing they are as equally guilty, there is this exchange between a black man and a Latino woman: He: "I told my mother that I was having sex with a white woman because I knew that would upset her; if I told her it was a Mexican, she would hardly care." She: "My father is from Puerto Rico, my mother's from El Salvador, neither of which is Mexico." He: "Well, then, I guess the big mystery is, who gathered up all of those different cultures and taught them all how to park their cars on their front lawns." The movie takes the threads of the lives of several people and slowly interweaves them over a two day period to make a tapestry of racial prejudice that forms when you see not the person before you but only the color of his skin. While the characters literally see each other in black and white, the movie beautifully portrays how there is no such easy division between "good and evil" and that these qualities exists in us all; we all are really just shades of "gray", more alike than any of us would care to admit. A unique, imaginative, unpredictable movie; the tension of the characters is effectively transmitted to the audience and magnifies your anticipation. Not everything turns out "right" in this film ... because that's how life really is. I give this one a 9.25.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

JohnF.

Jul 4, 2005

Wonderful writing, wonderful against type acting, the words and the story are everything. what movies should be.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

TheEventsOf1989

Jan 10, 2020

"Crash" utilizes a wheel story format pretty well, diving deep into social-politics, and giving depth to all its characters. The film thrives on twisting the stereotypes around, allot of characters end up being the opposite of what you are meant to think they are. The visuals are creditable as well.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

CarolAnn

May 10, 2005

In a nutshell, this is a very derpressing racist movie demonstrating racial intolerance. It was so depressing that I walked out halfway through this film as did the few other people in the theater. Despite these glowing reviews that seemed to have loved it, I found it exploitative and very In a nutshell, this is a very derpressing racist movie demonstrating racial intolerance. It was so depressing that I walked out halfway through this film as did the few other people in the theater. Despite these glowing reviews that seemed to have loved it, I found it exploitative and very derogatory toward all races. Avoid.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

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9	#9 Most Discussed Movie of 2005
15	#15 Most Shared Movie of 2005