Crash Tested Dummy

Overcoming my newly acquired claustrophobia and general urge not be confined to a seat, I just felt like watching a movie. After luring A (the larger one) into coming home with some promises of food and a lift, I mooted the idea of a movie. It's a Sunday evening, so I figured that there would be absolutely no problem in procuring a couple of tickets for a 10:30 show. While Capote or Memoirs of a Geisha would have been first preferences, I had to be content with heading for Crash - the only accessible movie.

 

So, as always a review - particularly since I hear that Crash has won the Best Picture statuette.

 

The first half of the movie is incredible. You think it's a bold movie which addresses racism when few have dared to tread there post 9/11. It's a nicely built up storyline, sufficiently wide and probably very accurate too.

 

Then comes the intermission - it takes a filling of some pretty good caramel popcorn and PC with an old school-mate to get back to thinking about the movie...and then it happens. The trailer for Basic Instinct 2 starts running...there seem to be some very scenic views of London, not to mention a corny aspect -the office where everything seems to happen is the Erotic Gherkin at Bishopsgate. Sharon Stone looks - to put it mildly - old. You'll find few people (except the die-harders) who would want to watch even the trailer twice - leave alone the whole movie! But wait -this blog is about Crash..so back I go...

 

The 2nd half of the movie is, in a word, disappointing. Where you thought the movie was going to be bold and politically incorrect giving you no answer to the question at hand, every wrong is undone with a good and vice-versa. Every seemingly racist person commits an act which sheds the tag (and vice-versa)...and ironically (I suppose that was the intention - irony), the two ostensibly liberal people are the only ones who end up in a stand-off.

 

The almost mindless underuse or total throwing away of a fantastic idea reminded me of What Women Want, where you're thoroughly enjoying the movie for the first bit, before it meanders into a crappy 100 odd minutes of reel. Now, Crash isn't that bad...but the concept is simply lost.

 

Another problem with the movie is that everything is loose - I found the scriptwriting in Love Actually far better when everything is nicely tied up at the end. Crash has this bizarre five minutes towards the end when you're suddenly taken back to the start...and your temporal frames are just all over the place. After a while I just gave up trying to fit the jigsaw puzzle. (It was nearly 1 a.m. at this point)

 

Despite my insistence that WR runs trains till 2, they refused to do so and as a consequence A and I had to walk back. By Chowpatty A was ready to fall off to sleep while standing..not a pretty picture when you're crossing a road where even Santro's are zooming around at 100 and over. Got back home at 2:45 or so after dropping A off on the bike...a bit of Mr. Verne's underwater exploits (for the 10th time???) later - I crash!!