Product Description

They all live in Los Angeles. And in the next 36 hours, they will collide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11377 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2005-09-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Korean, Persian, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.com
Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a detective (Don Cheadle) and his Latina partner and lover (Jennifer Esposito) investigate a white cop who shot a black cop--these are only three of the interlocking stories that reach up and down class lines. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby) spins every character in unpredictable directions, refusing to let anyone sink into a stereotype. The cast--ranging from the famous names above to lesser-known but just as capable actors like Michael Pena (Buffalo Soldiers) and Loretta Devine (Woman Thou Art Loosed)--meets the strong script head-on, delivering galvanizing performances in short vignettes, brief glimpses that build with gut-wrenching force. This sort of multi-character mosaic is hard to pull off; Crash rivals such classics as Nashville and Short Cuts. A knockout. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Crash (click for larger image)

From The New Yorker
A brazenly alive and heartbreaking film about the rage and foolishness of intolerance-the mutual abrasions of white, black, Latino, Middle Eastern, and Asian citizens in the great and strange city of Los Angeles. The movie starts off with separate vignettes in which the characters run afoul of each other, say things better left unsaid, and get into terrible trouble. Later, they cross paths again, sometimes in bizarre coincidences that feel exactly right; some of these scenes play out at the edge of insanity, where contentiousness spills over into tragedy or farce. The furiously candid screenplay was written by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, and the picture was directed by Haggis, who, in his first time out as director, demonstrates an amazing skill with actors. Don Cheadle, as a withdrawn, melancholy police detective, is the star, and the other players include Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton as an upper-class African-American couple, Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock as an L.A. district attorney and his bitchy wife, Chris (Ludacris) Bridges and Larenz Tate as carjackers, Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe as cops, and Shaun Toub as an Iranian shopkeeper who thinks everyone is out to cheat him. The gentle electronic score is by Mark Isham. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Well intentioned, but over rated
This film tugs at every emotion and stereotype you can imagine, however, it often tugs them in unintended ways. Starting with the opening shot of two young youths complaining about racism and profiling... well meaning and impactful, yet, the exact thing that they are complaining about, they do, completely unravelling all of their arguments... While I expect the movie intended to set up the dualism of racism and predjudice in many of its situations, it goes to extremes beyond what is required to drive the story forward.

However, let us not detract from the performances of Matt Dillion, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Phillippe. While the movie did win the BEST PICTURE award and deserved the nomination (but not the award), I think it's a bit overrated but enjoyable none-the-less.

Arrrrrrgh!
Most of the reviews here focus on the movie, so I'll skip that. The DVD itself is what irritates me and that's one of the main reasons it doesn't deserve more than a two star rating. This is just one of many examples how consumers are being ripped-off. Last year I purchased this DVD and just a few months later, we have ANOTHER version, now on two discs. Why? It's the money (stupid), and for some people never enough of it. And then they have decency to bitch about torrent and stuff. They asked for it. Why couldn't have this movie be issued properly with all extras the first time around? Not to mention that extras on disc 2 don't even seem too enticing to spit out another $20 for the update. What a scam. And this DVD is not an exception. It's become a practice to steel from us this way. Shame on those who keep doing this (see a phenomenal doc. movie Enron to understand their mentality), and pitty on those who keep buying (into these shenanigans).

As far as the movie itself, it's OK, not as bad as some reviews claim. It's a tacky subject, for many hard to swallow. Understandably so. It's 2005 and America's still dealing with the color of skin issues. If, however, you would like to see some much better movies on the subject, try one of the classics such as "To Kill A Mockingbird", "In The Heat Of The Night" or more recent "Do The Right Thing", all of these way better than Crash.

Wow, I didn't think the Oscars could disappoint me this much....
I love, love, love the Oscars. This year, when I read that Crash was nominated, I laughed to myself and figured the Academy just needed to fill one more spot to make five...WOW, and then it WON. It actually WON. I will admit I have not seen Brokeback Mountain yet, but I also know that given the publicity and accolades Brokeback has received, it seemed almost indefinite that it would win. Crash is a Lifetime movie at best.
Crash mangaged to have an agenda, stick to the agenda, and basically scream, "Here is our agenda...racism is bad!" for the entire film. Some of the more "serious" racism scenes were so over-the-top and unrealistic that I laughed more than I thought, "What a deep, moving film this is..." Actually, I don't think I thought "deeply" at all during this crap, nor do I find it moving or profound.
How did Matt Dillon get nominated from an ensemble cast where no one in particular shined? This film could have been done with a dozen nobodies and it would still be the same.
I think the Academy, unfortunately, isn't ready to give an Oscar to a film like Brokeback, but they want to look socially aware, so Crash was a safe choice. It's a wonder this film was nominated to begin with.