Crash…The Academy Award Winner?

Last night I watched the free screener the producer’s of Crash sent to all members of the Screen Actor’s Guild. I finally got to see if it was better than Brokeback Mountain which was its main competition for the Academy Award as Best Picture. Well I think the voters of the academy made a mistake. Crash for me was a 1 layer movie. Every character gets a chance to show his or her prejudice. It was so obvious; I found it laughable at times. I think some of the performances were great, but I felt like I was watching some sort of instructional film on the dangers of prejudice. I felt the writers were banging me in the head with their constant drone. Every character is so obvious in their distaste for some other race; it just didn’t ring true to me. I think many bigots and racists are a lot more subtle, and it would have been nice to see a few more realistic characters.  I also didn’t like all the many interrelated little storylines. It was done before in the movie Grand Canyon and much better I might add.  Crash is plainly and simply a message movie, while Brokeback Mountain is an original and compelling drama that is not spoon fed to the moviegoer. Even Capote, another nominee, was far more intelligent. If you want pabulum…  see Crash, but if you want brain stimulation… see Brokeback Mountain. 

P.S. It probably didn’t hurt that the producers of Crash had the finances to send copies of the film to everyone!