Denouement: Is It OK to Hate ‘Crash’ but Like Paul Haggis?

One of the most difficult things for me about hating "Crash" is knowing how much my parents like it. They're hardly cineastes, but their tastes usually match up pretty closely to mine -- except for "Crash." It's something I can't even talk about with them because I can't be reasonable about it: How can they not know how manipulative and sanctimonious director and co-writer Paul Haggis is in his multi-story depiction of racism in Los Angeles? I finally had to chalk it up to them simply appreciating Haggis' sincerity in a way I couldn't.

My anger at "Crash" peaked when it won Best Picture, beating out "Brokeback Mountain" (not to mention "Capote") at a ceremony where, ironically, the Academy gave a lifetime achievement award to director Robert Altman, the master of multiple storylines and movies that echoed the rhythms of real life. Altman had never won an Oscar for any of his films: Haggis got two for "Crash." For "Crash."

My bitterness at his Best Picture triumph had deeply soured me on the man, but considering that it's been six years since "Crash" came out, is it time for me to get over it? Probably so -- and I'm not the only one recently who seems ready to forgive and forget.

These thoughts were inspired by the recent (brilliant) piece in the New Yorker about Haggis and his exit from Scientology, where he's painted as a flawed but self-aware guy who's a supporter of philanthropic causes and a dad who supports his gay daughters. The profile's author, Lawrence Wright, doesn't make Haggis out to be a hero or a martyr, but he does seem to like the filmmaker enough not to paint him as a monster or an idiot.

This attitude was earlier reflected by, of all people, film critic and programmer Scott Foundas, who interviewed Haggis at the end of 2010 in connection with his film "The Next Three Days." I say "of all people" because, as Foundas points out in his article, he was as violent a "Crash" hater as anyone, and he didn't like the guy's next film, "In the Valley of Elah," all that much either. But the Foundas article suggested that he could see past the sins of "Crash" to embrace Haggis' skill as a screenwriter on several Clint Eastwood films and Daniel Craig's James Bond movies. (Indeed, Haggis' explanation for what makes an assassin so fascinating perfectly explains why "Casino Royale" is so terrific -- and, hey, even he acknowledges that "Quantum of Solace" was a mess.)

But now that Haggis has parted ways with Scientology, there seems to be a sense that critics are at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt a little more than they would before. (And by "critics" I mean "all of us who hated 'Crash'" -- there were, after all, many reviewers who loved the movie.)

That doesn't mean we're willing to do cartwheels for whatever he makes: "The Next Three Days" got mixed reviews, and it contained his usual moments of annoyingly on-the-nose exposition and vaguely ludicrous plot points. But thinking back on the movie after reading the New Yorker piece, I couldn't get over how much Haggis the man sounds a lot like Haggis the filmmaker. Well-intentioned but seemingly cursed to bring about his own problems, Haggis is someone who's clearly talented -- I wouldn't hate "Crash" as much as I do if on some level it wasn't a confident and assured piece of work -- but his manipulative gimmicks just keep getting in the way. (Maybe that's why I like his scripts he's written for others better: In those cases, there's a director who can put a clamp on some of his tendencies.)

Am I willing to say I made a mistake about "The Next Three Days" or "Crash"? No, I'm sure I'm right -- they're ambitious failures. But the recent media reboot of his image has helped to remind me that there's something about him as a filmmaker that works -- even if it more often than not just works to annoy me. I still think my parents are wrong about "Crash," but whatever it is that he has as an artist sure left an impression on them. I still don't like his movies, but I've come to find him to be a much more nuanced individual than I originally thought -- or would allow myself to believe. So, I'm willing to wipe the slate clean and start fresh, Mr. Haggis: But if you wouldn't mind giving your characters some of that nuance, it would go a long way.