If you haven’t seen this movie, then these jokes probably won’t mean much to you. And if you haven’t seen this movie, you really need to because it’s excellent. And if you haven’t seen this movie, don’t read any further because I have a anecdote about the film that contains a major spoiler.
When this movie first came to theaters in wide release, I was there opening day, first in line. When the previous showing ended and people were exiting the theater, I was privy to all their reactions to the film:
“That was a great movie.”
“Thanks for the tissues.”
“Man, Sandra Bullock was a BITCH in that movie!”
“… So the bullets in the little red box were blanks?”
When I heard that last one, I jokingly said to my friend, “Aw great, now the movie’s ruined!” I had no context to base the “little red box” on, so I didn’t know how true my statement was.
So at the end of the scene where Farhad’s daughter buys the gun, I knew she had gotten him blanks. Therefore, during the emotional climax of the film, when Daniel’s daughter gets shot point-blank in his arms, I knew she was going to live. What was hilarious, though, was everyone’s reaction during that moment. I looked around and saw people crying, people closing their eyes, people looking like they had just been punched in the spleen, people looking like they were crapping their pants – I felt kind of bad for them. I just wanted to stand up from my seat and shout ,”DON’T WORRY! THEY’RE BLANKS!!!” and save everyone from their emotional turmoil.
I didn’t, of course. ”Crash” is the kind of film that’s supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. It presents tough situations and forces you to examine your own prejudices. To that end, I knew this parody had to be a series of racist jokes. In my opinion, racist jokes are only funny if you’re not racist. Because otherwise you’re like, “Yeah, that’s true.” So if you didn’t laugh at any of these, guess what?
… or they weren’t funny. I dunno.
Until next week, Keep It Reel!
