 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Crash
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2005
Common Sense Media says
Powerful look at racism, but too intense for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that, as the film interrogates urban fears, violence, and racism, the language, particularly the use of racial epithets, is rough. The film also features several violent scenes, including a carjacking, a pedestrian hit by a car, a five-year-old child shot by a handgun (with her parents watching), and several car crashes. Policemen, detectives, district attorneys, and an insurance adjuster prove untrustworthy; characters steal cars, do drugs, drink, smoke cigarettes, and have sex (including implied oral sex in a car and a cop putting his hands on a woman's private parts, in front of her upset husband, under the guise of "patting her down.")
What's the story?
Sprawling and ambitious, episodic and contrived, CRASH weaves together a series of stories about post-9/11 fearfulness. The characters range and include L.A. detectives Graham (Don Cheadle) and his partner and lover, Ria (Jennifer Esposito), uniformed officers Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Thomas (Ryan Phillippe), petty thieves Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Peter (Larenz Tate), and TV director Cameron (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton). All of them make assumptions about others, based on appearance and the distress they've suffered in their own lives. After a violent carjacking, well-to-do Jean (Sandra Bullock) turns on her D.A. husband (Brendan Fraser), then accuses their young locksmith of looking like an untrustworthy gangbanger. Later, locksmith Daniel (Michael Peña) comforts his terrified little girl, who can't forget the gunshots she remembers from their old neighborhood. Iranian shopkeeper Farhad (Shaun Toub) is also afraid, due to a robbery. His daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) tries to calm him by purchasing a gun he can keep in a drawer. In each case, security is a fantasy -- in the face of random violence (or maybe karmic-payback), one can only hope to survive.
Is it any good?
Opening with the aftermath of a car wreck under investigation, this Best Picture Oscar-winner is plainly about loss. But the loss of what isn't immediately obvious. Each interaction seems a kind of collision. For example, Ryan's ailing father makes him anxious, and so he takes it out on Cameron and Christine, whom he finds having sex in their car. He's cruel, but they can't fight back: he's a cop. When Thomas suggests Ryan has crossed a line, the older cop defends himself by blaming the work: "Wait till you've been on the job a few more years. You think you know who you are; you have no idea."
Some violent encounters are actual crashes, minor and major, lending the movie a sort of stop-and-start rhythm. This structure is exacerbated by the awkward multi-culti casting. CRASH takes a "one-from-every-food-group" approach to race representation (including a mostly unseen Asian pedestrian hit by a car and dragged beneath). The movie seems geared toward those viewers who were surprised by the Rodney King video, that is, people who don't regularly deal with cultural collisions. For others, its machinations will grind.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the film's representations of racism, anger, and fearfulness, embodied and acted on by nearly every character. Families might also think about the ways that current urban and mass-mediated experiences lead to alienation and cultural divisions. Families might also discuss the several family situations, in particular, the five-year-old girl's trust in her caring father, and adult children trying to look after aging parents. How do family relationships affect your trust of others? How do some characters use aggression (verbal and physical) to establish their sense of identity?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
Briliiant, Bold, Brutal, Best-Picture Winner
This is a very good movie to watch. It powerfully deals with racism and the consequences of hate and discrimination. The preformances are fantastic and the story is great. Prents: althoguh you should let your kid watch this movie that teaches a good lesson about the negative consequences of racism it is quite dark, violnet, an, at times, sexual. A racist cop explictitly but non-graphically sexually assaults a woman of different race. There are many, many sotuations involving racial differences, moslty ending in harsh language, violence, or a sexual act. But parents, like I said, this is a good movie for your kids to watch in order to learn not to discriminate against others unlike yourself. Plus, the movie leaves you with a sense of hope, tranquility, and, overall, gentle resolution. Brilliant; bold; brutal.
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AGE
The message trumps the rest
I think the message this movie embodies is definitely one that is present in our country and one that is ideal for discussing with your children.
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AGE
Best look at racism in US
My 16 year old daughter cannot stop talking about this movie - and taking her friends to see it. The intersecting lives of the many races and cultures of Los Angeles portray the subtle and harmful ways that racism affects everyone. Characters are real - they have positive and negative qualities so no one is a "good guy" or a "bad guy" - all are trying to make sense of the world and deal with their prejudices in one way or another. Racism is not simple; it runs deeply in our society and this is the first film I've seen that doesn't shy away from showing us how complex and deeply human the issue is.
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AGE
Crash deals with Racism and has great movie.
Crash is from Writer-Director Paul Haggis and brings a great script and acting to an intense subject matter but never goes too soft on the audience or too rough. Another great oscar-winner.
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AGE
Intended for mature viewers
"Crash" begs a lot of hard questions for today's modern day xenophobic audiences, but seldom does it reward us with answers. I probably wouldn't like this film very much if it wasn't so modern and revelant to the problems we face as Americans today, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The ensemble was spot-on, and you couldn't have asked for a better script. As for as content-wise, there were several mature topics and scenes, I would advise the edited-for-TV version as I saw it.
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AGE
Hmm....
...I found this movie to be good, but largely overrated. I mean, it's not bad at all, but I found lots of the characters to be extremely annoying, and there were very few I actually cared about. It had a perfect cast, and a couple of incredibly powerful scenes...but for some reason, I didn't love it. It all felt a bit artificial to me somehow. 'Crash' is a pretty good movie, but I definitely don't think it deserved Best Picture at the Oscars.
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AGE
Amazing!
I was 12 when I first saw the movie. Before you all jump on me my mom "edited" a few of the sexual scenes. Other than that sure, the language was a little bit strong, but it emphasized the movie. After awhile, (like I do with most movies), I didnt even notice the cuss words. What I'm tryin to say is depending on the maturity of your child, I think the appropiate age to watch this movie would be 14. It was a great movie that had deep issues and an amaing storyline. My favorite movie so far.
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| Studio: | Lionsgate |
| Director: | Paul Haggis |
| Cast: | Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 113 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | May 6, 2005 |
| DVD release date: | September 6, 2005 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language, sexual content, some violence |
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