...and burn. i didn't like crash because it didn't depict enough racism for me. it was a movie about racism, but it didn't really show me anything "new" about it. racism, as depicted in crash, came at you with a bludgeon. white cop hates black man. immigrant man is suspicious of everyone. black record exec has to whitewash himself to fit in. gun shop owner hates middle easterners (who were actually persian). white rich woman distrusts mexicans. while i admire the attempt to tackle the subject matter, i didn't want to be slammed over the head with racism. i wanted crash to tackle the aspects of racism that we don't alway see in movies. instead, what i got was the caricature racism that we've always seen before.

and that's not to say that depictions of caricature racism was a waste of my time, but i've been there, done that before. i had higher hopes.

what did i like about crash? the acting was excellent, the casting was good, the movie flowed. i liked the scene where ryan phillipe -- a young white cop who had just requested to leave his racist partner -- ends up killing a young black man because he thought he was reaching for his gun. because you know, he was an angry black man reaching for his pocket. that was something that made you think about subtle racism. that's what i wanted to see more of from crash.

the other thing i didn't like about crash was that most of the denouement moments seemed forced. i mean, would a somewhat logical response to racism be to take a gun and go shoot a guy? would it be to stand in front of cops and pretty much ask to be shot? so yeah, i thought crash was decent as a movie, just not so good as social commentary. it was like "love, actually" to me. and if you know what i mean by that, then we're on the same page.

q: why can't stevie wonder read?
a: because he's black.