Crash

Title: Crash
Year: 2004
Director: Paul Haggis
Writers: Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Ludacris, Larenz Tate, Don Cheadle, Ryan Philippe, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña, Shaun Toub
Music: Mark Isham
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Directing, Best Supporting Actor (Dillon) and Best Song ("In the Deep"); currently #215 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a day in the life of racism in L.A.
Length: 112 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (points off for concept, story, cinematography, acting and music) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

If it had been two movies, they would have been crazy great. As it is, it's two movies, spliced together, without anything to unify them other than "themes." They each have their own shapes, their own climaxes and resolutions, and they're cut together based purely on the time of day in which the events take place without regard for the stories' dramatic arcs. There's some really great acting, but there's also some Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock.