Review by Bryce Zabel
An ensemble drama, set in Los Angeles, highlighting the stormy state of race relations in the city. Yep, they made that movie in 1991 as Grand Canyon and again in 2005 as Crash.Here in Hollywood, I'm starting to get a lot of screening invites to see Crash, a film that's been on-the-circuit since last May, at least. This means that the people behind it smell Oscar and are starting to push hard.
"Everybody in this city's a f---in' racist, including me."
The fact that both films sound the same in the simple reductionism of their high concepts shows why you shouldn't play that game in deciding whether to see a film or not. These are definitely not the same movies.
I've lived in LA before, during and after the times of each of these films. Of course, Grand Canyon was made before the Rodney King verdict inspired riots of 1992. That probably explains why it had such a positive vibe at the end. The riots pretty much put that edge back on.
I showed the 1991 version to my kids, one of whom simply could not get through it and the other of whom simply could not fathom what the ending was all about with everybody staring out over the real Grand Canyon. I started to explain that it was all about how nature was bigger than all of us, making our petty issues like race seem so silly, except that about halfway through that argument, I wasn't even sure if I believed it.
Crash, on the other hand, is pretty grim stuff. Sandra Bullock has never been more shrill and looks like she needs Prozac. In the other film, Mary McDonnell looks like she needs to get off the stuff. I see all the flaws in Crash -- and there are a few -- but overall, I was much more compelled by its web of interlocking stories. Matt Dillon is phenomenal as a racist cop.
Let's face it. Crash has some problems but it feels more like life and Grand Canyon feels more like a movie. Plus, I met Paul Haggis at the Newport Beach Film Festival where his movie screened this year and after you've sipped a Cosmo with a filmmaker, you kind of owe him, at least in Hollywood.
Crash. Because what people are saying about race now is even more important than what they were saying about it then.
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