With its depiction of multicultural Los Angeles as a city riven by racial strife, urban ennui and class warfare, "Crash" has sharply divided film critics. But it has pulled together a critical mass of filmgoers to remain among the top-grossing movies at the box office for four weeks running.
The ensemble drama has turned into must-see viewing for those who want to stay inside the cultural loop, much the same as last year's "The Passion of the Christ" -- another controversial movie that became unavoidable small-talk fodder -- albeit on a smaller scale.
"The movie is becoming water-cooler conversation," said John Hegeman, president of worldwide marketing for the movie's distributor, Lions Gate Films. "There's a cultural relevance to it."
The Los Angeles Times called "Crash" "a grim, histrionic experiment in vehicular metaphor slaughter"; it also received a scathing review in the New York Times. The New Yorker, however, hailed it as "the strongest American film since Clint Eastwood's 'Mystic River.' " Despite those mixed reviews, the $7.5-million film -- which stars Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock -- has played strongly throughout the country. In Manhattan, "Crash" was the most highly attended movie on its opening weekend, and it remains among the three most attended films in Southern California.
"Everyone in my office has been talking about it," said Jun Rhee, 37, an Internet technology supervisor from Los Angeles. "I felt like I had to see for myself or else I wouldn't be part of the conversations."
For his part, writer-director Paul Haggis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "Million Dollar Baby," feels gratified that "Crash" has gotten people talking. "I think it's fabulous that people are coming out of any film and debating it," he says.
"When you're making a film like this, you want strong opinions. You want people to argue about things. When [executive producer and co-star] Don Cheadle and [co-writer and producer] Bobby Moresco and I were setting out, we knew we'd stir up a lot of feelings -- some of them negative."
However, to combat perceptions that the filmmakers had set out to sensationalize racial conflict, the movie's marketers pre-screened "Crash" for influential activists and pop icons, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, music producer L.A. Reid and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
