Product Details

• Actors: Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent.
• VHS Release Date: February 14, 2006
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,032 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BKDSMG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,936 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

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)

Product Description

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 --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crash, September 7, 2005

By 

Emily R. Jarrell "emma34" (Newport News, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crash (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

This is the truest movie out there on racism, and the preconceived notions we ALL (no matter what color) try not to admit to to a certain extent. This was not a "lets bash the white man" movie either, the racism was across the board. The biggest surprise was to come about an hour in, and I was stunned to see the revelation of that storyline (with Matt Dillon). This film requires paying attention to, please stay with it, it will pay off. High recommend!

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, July 8, 2006

By 

Hinkle Goldfarb (R.R. 1 Highway 162, Butte City, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crash (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Unbelievable that this film should win the Oscar. It's 1-1/2 stars out of four at *best.* Like so much of Hollywood's social commentary, it says much more about the race and class ideologies of the people who made the movie than it does about the society it attempts to portray. I'm not saying it doesn't have its moments, but the manner in which race and class issues were addressed were mostly phony, shallow and stereotyped. At its heart, the movie is just silly, paradoxically made even sillier by its achievement as Best Picture.

Also, basic plotting and storytelling is ignored. High school seniors could write a better plot. Here's a literary example: in Les Miserables, you ever notice how Inspector Javert keeps popping up at just the right moment? You know what that is? I'm sure there's some fancy English Major name for it, but its common term is "unexplained coincidence," a.k.a. "clumsy plot device." Using unexplained coincidences to goose the plot may have been acceptable for 19th century readers, but I think 21st century audiences expect and deserve better. When you look at how films like "Magnolia" and "Pulp Fiction" dealt with intersecting stories, you're looking at at least journeymen screenwriters, who are thoughtful enough to overcome this problem. Not in Crash, oh no. Just stick with the clumsy plot devices right to the end. One cop saves the life of a woman he felt up the night before. His partner, in a different part of town, saves the life of her husband. The husband is carjacked by a robber whose partner is shot by the police officer he met the night before. A cop investigates his own brother's death. Come ON.

44 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SOOO overrated..., March 14, 2006

By 

Sarah (St. Louis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crash (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Here's the best way to express my feelings about this ridiculously overrated movie. A quote from LA Weekly film critic Scott Foundas writing for Slate.com:
"Welcome to the best movie of the year for people who like to say, 'A lot of my best friends are black.'"

Don't buy this dvd. Buy 13 Conversations About One Thing. It's the same general idea, but with some sense and subtlety. Crash has neither and just delights in racial epithets. Congratulations, Paul Haggis, you know a lot of dirty words. Too bad you can't write above a fifth-grade level.