'Crash' and burn

It took a while, quite a long while, to find a review of "Crash," the TV version of the triple Oscar-winning feature film, that didn't eviscerate it. And even then, it's kind of faint praise, and from an East Coast source. What do they know about L.A. anyway?

The New York Times says "Crash" has "a noirish appeal, and ambitions to tell a big story." If you're so inclined, there's more here.

THR's Ray Richmond, no fan of the original material, calls the series, the first original scripted show on cable movie channel Starz, "chaotic and boorish," among other slags:

"Even more stupefyingly one-dimensional than the film, this series blasts out a collection of crude, disturbing images without a true unifying theme."

The L.A. Times says the show's biggest star, Dennis Hopper, is playing Lear with Tourette's, and Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle says tonight's premiere episode "begins and ends without raising your pulse or making you think."

Is it too late to reschedule your Friday night plans?

Trivia du jour: In which categories did "Crash," the 2005 feature, win its Oscars?

Answers after the jump.

 

It was a shocker. Shocker! "Crash" won for best picture, upsetting "Brokeback Mountain," which had been the clear favorite. It also won for best original screenplay and best editing.

A couple more nominations did not yield fruit. Paul Haggis was nominated for best director, its music was nominated for best original song (remember the interpretive dance number performed around burned-out cars at the Oscars that year?) and Matt Dillon had a best supporting actor nod.