Crash

From the writer of "Million Dollar Baby" comes this racially charged ensemble piece, which follows numerous lives intersecting over a 36-hour period in the volatile melting pot of L.A. Opening with a car-jacking, a central event that connects most of the characters, Haggis' drama meditates on the levels of class conflict between cops, criminals, showbiz types, and various ethnic and racial groups. A bit preachy at times, but the cast is so uniformly strong and the characters so multi-layered, you won't care. Cheadle, as always, stands out, but even the ensemble's typically bland Hollywood actors (Bullock, Fraser, Phillippe) acquit themselves nicely.