Very simply, "Crash" is the worst film to win the Oscar for best picture. Ever! "Crash" may even be the worst film to be nominated for Hollywood's highest honor. Condescending, contrived, and trite, this is the work of hacks. The screenplay violates one of the simplest but most important rules of writing in ways even a C student in screen writing would be unlikely to do. Ever heard the command to SHOW, NOT TELL?
Since neither Paul Haggis nor his co-conspirators have the talent to show the effects of racism on individuals and society, they tell. And tell. And tell. The actors might as well be reciting a newspaper column, one written way back in the 60s, a decade when this pretentious, self important piece of tripe might have managed to fool even the wisest among us that it had some relevance. Then again, the 60s was the decade of "In the Heat of the Night," not to mention the more obscure "Pressure Point," both of which looked at race relations with unblinking honesty and a knowledge of how people really act, think, and talk. The characters in "Crash" are laughable stereotypes who rarely utter one word that sounds like something that would emerge from the mouth of a real human being.
Not since "Doctor Doolittle" scored an Oscar nomination for best picture in 1967 (depriving "In Cold Blood," "Cool Hand Luke," and several other better films of that honor) has Oscar made a blunder as bad as giving his top prize to this dim-witted dud.
Since neither Paul Haggis nor his co-conspirators have the talent to show the effects of racism on individuals and society, they tell. And tell. And tell. The actors might as well be reciting a newspaper column, one written way back in the 60s, a decade when this pretentious, self important piece of tripe might have managed to fool even the wisest among us that it had some relevance. Then again, the 60s was the decade of "In the Heat of the Night," not to mention the more obscure "Pressure Point," both of which looked at race relations with unblinking honesty and a knowledge of how people really act, think, and talk. The characters in "Crash" are laughable stereotypes who rarely utter one word that sounds like something that would emerge from the mouth of a real human being.
Not since "Doctor Doolittle" scored an Oscar nomination for best picture in 1967 (depriving "In Cold Blood," "Cool Hand Luke," and several other better films of that honor) has Oscar made a blunder as bad as giving his top prize to this dim-witted dud.