Crash. Pass the cheese, please.

[razerfish]

This movie is so cheesy. It's like an R-rated After School Special. Remember those?

And contrived. How big is L.A. anyway? Considering how often our characters ran into each other, I'm guessing it's about the size of Mayberry.

Matt Dillon runs into Thandy Newton twice in, what, 2 days. What are the odds of that?

And the Iranian shop keeper. How stupid is he? Could he not figure out he had a bad door by himself? What shop keeper doesn't know things like this? Then he's even told, but his English is supposed to be so bad that he doesn't understand the different between a lock and a door? C'mon, that didn't ring true at all.

I'm also a little unsure of the blanks too. Do they happen to have blanks for sale at gun shops like that? Would this be a common purchase or something held in the back or maybe ordered special. Who buys blanks for a hand gun? This felt a little improbable to me.

Brendan Fraser as the politically correct D.A. So they're willing to frame a possibly innocent white cop so they can pin a medal on a dead black one? Can't they count the ways this cover-up will come back and bite them in the ass? You already have about 4 people that know about the money in the trunk, and the guy was most likely coked out of his mind. That's hard to keep secret. What else could come out and really make them look bad, destroying careers in the process. This felt so contrived.

The gun shop owner mouthing off at a customer. These guys want to sell guns, so they'll put on a smile and do what they have to do to make a sale. Felt forced to me.

The guy who ran the car theft ring. So he's a criminal, right? So that means he has his fingers in every possible criminal enterprise there is. Sure. Because he deals in stolen cars, he also dabbles in human slavery. Makes perfect sense. And the black guy that steals the van doesn't notice 10 people in the back? C'mon.

All of the events felt forced and completely contrived for me to enjoy this movie. It was more of a silly sermon than a movie anyway.

Thumbs down from me.

[roscoegino]

the film is an allegory. i think the coincidences can be forgiven.

I thought it was an effective, gripping film. Not perfect. Heavy handed at times and not long on subtlety. Nevertheless it is certainly one of the year's best.

[Hairy Lime]

Perhaps the coincidences were used to convey the idea that life is not random.

Each of your criticisms could be forgiven or explained individually, but when added up it appears they caused you to unsuspend your disbelief for this film. However, I certainly wouldn't suggest you watch the film from a realist perspective ... the clue for this is given in the opening scene when it SNOWS. That's a big fat clue that says "this is not the LA that you know and loathe."

For me the only one I had a hard time with was Brendan Frasier with a law degree.

[Pencey]

It snows in the opening scene? How'd I miss that?

[Hairy Lime]

Or was it only in the last scene?

I thought the snow bookended the movie, but I could be wrong.

Saw it early in the theatrical run.

[Biohazard]

There is mention of a possible snowfall at the beginning, but it doesn't snow until the end.

Anyway, I just watched the movie last night and I enjoyed it. I guess it's supposed to be a message movie rather than a "normal" film, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

[NoTalentAssClown]

Yeah I agree w/ Razer, I wasn't impressed. The scene that really fell flat with me was the black director's showdown with the cops. Why did Ludacris stay in the car when they got caught? He would have run in a second like his friend did. And this guy suddenly grows balls the size of watermelons and tries to grant his own death wish.

I didn't appreciate Haggis calling me a racist, either. Freakin hypocrite! This movie came out about a decade too late. It would have had more resonance in 1995.

[Pencey]

Originally Posted by NoTalentAssClown

I didn't appreciate Haggis calling me a racist, either.

But we're all racists. Don't you know anything...you burrito eatin', pale-faced, spear chuckin', jew bag!

[PNChheda]

Watched the movie last night. I guess that the hype killed it for me. Just like Mystic River, I am not sure if I liked it or did not care for it. Anyway, was it me or were most the characters under developed? The only character I could relate to was Matt Dillon. I could not connect with any of the other characters including Don, Brandon or Sandra. May be there were just toooo many people to keep track of. Gotta give credit to Paul for creating some very intense scenes.

[jellyjilly]

So much talk, I broke down and watched it last night . . . sort of. I fast-forwarded through most of it.

It opens with a spaced-out guy chanting something about how Angelenos get into car crashes because it's the only contact they have with each other. Okay, sure. Then we're treated to a highly selective tour of every type of racist in the city, with a few criminals thrown in for good measure, and told these people are representative of all Angelenos and race relations in general. Yeah, thanks. Lots of montages-with-songs-over of lingering closeups and shots of people sitting on buses and walking across streets and driving their cars and lying on their beds and such. Then at the end (maybe a SPOILER).....

the Persian guy was sitting there with this utterly loony smile on his face, saying something like, "I shot a little girl. But she was an angel. An angel to protect us." And his daughter, instead of saying "Did you hit your head?" like that Latina in the first scene, smiles back.

That was my experience of this movie. All those subtle, jarring, edgy, provocative, challenging, deep, disturbing, ironic truths were wasted on shallow, defensive, entertainment-seeking me.