"Crash"

I recently saw the Sandra Bullock/Don Cheadle/Terrance Howard/Thandie Newton/Matt Dillon vehicle "Crash". It was, simply, the best movie I've seen this year to date. There was not a single weak link in either the major or supporting actor roles. It would be a mistake to label this just a movie about race; class struggle, ethnic/cultural identity, REAL marriage issues, hypocrisy, rage, white liberalism, living in a "melting pot", and just plain living in any cosmopolitan city are also adeptly handled and juxtaposed in a very SOLID 100 minutes of well-composed celluloid. There are standout performances (the Mexican locksmith- and his backstory- was particularly riveting for me), and its not a "pretty" movie with all clear-cut one-dimensional characters whose whole lives can be summarized by the 3rd minute they appear in the movie. Sandra Bullock turns in a very convincing performance as a "modern" upper-class cosmopolitan wife with very "modern" cosmopolitan principles and demons, while Don Cheadle's police detective with a "family issue" (that I personally have very close ties to) made me quiver. Thandie Newton (who is certified beauty and BRILLIANCE to me) and Terrance Howard (who is really becoming an actor whose movies I would go to see without seeing a single trailer), have a GREAT rapport and rip the script to shreds with powerful performances. Matt Dillon gives the movie more turns and more depth than one character should be able to do in a movie; making it disgusting, gut-punching, sympathetic, and heroic all at once. Ludacris may have a decent acting career in him, and Ryan Phillipe does his thing. Loretta Devine's character was a brilliant commentary on the "black name game" and "black racism". The ending left me reeling and mentally rewinding the entire movie until I figured it out. For me, the movie illustrated how, regardless of how we try to insulate ourselves from each other, we are ALL intertwined one way or another and our paths cross in ways that we aren't even aware of. Peep it!