I'll say it. Crash wasn't that great.

I'll submit to you that all of the best picture nominees had something in common: they were all message movies. Nothing special about that as the Acadamy loves to give the nod to what they consider are the "important" films --- unless the movie is a multi-billion dollar production crowd pleaser about a sinking boat.

I saw all of the best pictures this year and liked them all, save one. It was the one that had been done many times before. It was preachy, it's characters were designed for maximum effect, and it delved into the difficult topic: racism. That picture is Crash. And while I didn't hate it, I was disappointed that it was nominated as best picture. I thought it was entertaining enough, but had way too many Hollywood mastubatory elements to it --- the ensemble cast, the interweaving story lines, the "racism is bad" message that it just beat me into submission.

I was fully expecting Brokeback Mountain to take the award --- a film that I saw for the first time hours before the awards show. It was a great movie for reasons other than its assumed message --- that gay love during times of hate is a rough road. Sorry, but that movie was about betrayal. I stayed away from Brokeback until the last minute because I didn't think I could identify much with a gay cowboy movie. And now I think that film will stay with me for a lot longer than Crash, which I saw on its opening week and have largely forgotten about.