Watching "Crash" 18 years after release... (Spoilers?)

I remember seeing the 2006 Oscar-winning film Crash in the theaters in 2004. I was 23 years old, in college, in the midst of taking a "Film History and Appreciation" course, and upon seeing it, immediately thought:

- It was powerful.

- The acting was superb.

- The interconnected stories increased my interest.

- It was a solid film (4 or 4.5 out of 5 stars)

- But something was missing...

When I discussed the film with my future sister-in-law, while I made the aforementioned comments, I also noted that the dialogue felt forced at times.

For whatever reason, I decided to view the film again in the past week - 18 years later, and here are my observations:

- There were powerful moments.

- The acting was great, but character-development was sorely lacking.

- The interconnected stories were interesting, but took away from the before-mentioned character-development.

- The dialogue was often cringe-worthy. 

- Overall, good movie, but not great, and definitely not Oscar-worthy (3 or 3.5 out of 5 stars).

The 23-year-old me was right on the money with one thing - the forced dialogue. When I first viewed the film 18 years ago, perhaps due to inexperience and naivety, it was just a strange gut feeling which told me something was off about the dialogue, but 18 years later, that subtle gut-feeling became a pounding over the head with a sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel on steroids. Just about every discussion went from zero to race-card faster than you can say Genesis. It didn't matter if the conversation began with talk of the weather, golf, or Casper the friendly ghost, I can all but guarantee it would soon transition to allegations of racism. Here are exaggerated examples of what took place:

Character A: "So, how about that weather, huh? F*cking beautiful! There's no greater feeling than that sun shining down on you, you know?"

Character B: "Oh? And what is that supposed to mean? Are you saying I can't get sunburned because I'm black? Listen here, buddy, I may be black, but I can still get burned!"

A: "That's not what I was saying at all. I was just saying it was a beautiful day today."

B: "Oh? ...and is that code for, 'The day is beautiful but you're not? Compared to the day, you look like sh*t?' ...and what is with all this 'shining down on you' bullsh*t? Are you seriously trying to say the sun is being condescending to me? Huh?!?"

 

Character A: "How do you pronounce your name?"

Character B: "Whore-hey, and no, I'm not from Mexico."

A: "Okay..."

B: "I know that's what you were thinking. Jorge? Mexican."

A: "But we met on HispanicsNotMexicans.com."

B: "So?"

A: "...and you suggested a Nicaraguan restaurant."

B: "So what?"

A: "...and you have a tattoo of Guatemala on your forehead."

B: "Exactly! And you still have the gall to assume I'm Mexican?!? Racist!"

Character A: "You bowl, right?"

Character B: "Oh, you think, because I'm white, I bowl, do you?"

A: "Well, you are holding a bowling ball."

B: "And?"

A: "We're at a bowling alley."

B: "And?"

A: "It's your turn. Me and the rest of the team have been waiting for 5 minutes."

Racism is an incredibly important subject, sadly still highly prevalent in modern-day society, and deserves to be treated in a serious, yet respectful manner on the screen, in order to provide greater emotional impact for viewers. Crash largely failed in that regard. I recommend checking out The Hate U Give instead, and providing the 2006 Best Picture award to either Munich or Brokeback Mountain.