Roughly ten minutes of Crash are worth seeing. When Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) comes across a crash scene involving two vehicles, a pivotal moment is born. As he runs toward one of the upturned cars, a slow (almost ghostlike) music track composed by Mark Isham starts to build. Only when John reaches the car and looks inside does both he and the audience experience the surprise of a lifetime. For there, strapped in and barely conscious of her surroundings is the fragile Christine Thayer (Thandie Newton).

SPOILER ALERT

Earlier in the film, she and her husband Cameron (Terrence Howard) were pulled over by two policemen. One of them was John, who proceeded to physically molest Christine. Flash forward to the car accident scene and she is no happy camper. Upon locking eyes with John, she starts cursing him with a fury. What follows next is extraordinarily moving. It’s the finest sequence in the film. But therein lies the problem with Crash. Neither director Paul Haggis nor any of his actors can match the dramatic intensity of this scene without it appearing contrived.  

Written by Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash also features a conversational quality similar to Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge (1996). Ordinary people don’t talk like the characters in this film. Patchy or staccato dialogue doesn’t sound as bad if it’s spoken well. In Crash, however, the level of authenticity goes down with each new syllable.

The most important idea put forward in Haggis’ picture is that we are all prisoners of our own prejudice.

Set in Los Angeles, Crash follows several tension-riddled plotlines. The first one has already been described. In the second, Detective Graham Waters (Don Cheadle) is involved in a high-profile case, while at the same time searching for his criminal brother, Peter (Larenz Tate). Meanwhile, store owner Farhad (Shaun Toub) arrives at his place of business one morning to find himself robbed and left without compensation due to “negligence.” Ever so suspiciously, he blames locksmith Daniel (Michael Pena) for his recent misfortune. This storyline leads to a dramatic finale, although it is less convincing than the car accident segment. Also, Jean Cabot (played by Sandra Bullock) appears here and there. In a state of anger, Jean finds fault with everything in her life, probably because her car was stolen by a street hoodlum.

These are the ingredients stirring around this angst-laden confection. Quite simply, this joining together of the various stories fails to ring true. There’s a lot of opening and closing of doors with the edit point somewhere in between. Editor Hughes Winborne has trouble finding any connective tissue beyond the obvious match cuts. His reliance on overly emotional acting “takes” deprives Crash of some much needed subtlety.

The performances are a mixed bag. Don Cheadle wanders around with a morose look on his face all the time. It’s not his fault that most of his co-stars follow suit, including Shaun Toub and Sandra Bullock. Yet, Matt Dillon shows true professionalism. His racist cop portrayal may recall the work of Rod Steiger in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night. It’s a stand-alone part. However, with more screen time, Dillon might have fleshed out his character even more.  

As a picture, Crash hovers around, moving sluggishly, often repeating steps along the way. The idea of exploring racial tension in Los Angeles makes certain characters come across as fearful and deliberately paranoid. Beyond its one riveting moment (the car scene), there’s scant entertainment or social value to be found here.

(Released by Lions Gate Films and rated “R” for language, sexual content and some violence.)