Four desperate people drift together over Christmas. One a stripper with a little boy in a coma, another is an ex-con looks for salvation, a mortuary worker faces foreclosure on his business and an ex-priest looks looks for some one to do a job for him. Well made and very well acted tale has plot lines that are so over done that they border on silly. Talk about stacking the deck, these people have enough going on for five years of soap operas. The cast almost sells the (overly) heart felt emotion, but its just too much.How much of this would really happen to four people over a couple of days? My interest began to wander about a half an hour in because I felt that the film was manipulating things for no really good reason. I understand why the cast was drawn to the material since it allows them to dig in and chow down on the scenery. Its not a bad movie, its just an over done one. I'd wait for cable.

It can't be that so many well known actors were the reason that this is such a bad movie. Nobody but writer/director Timothy Linh Bui can be blamed for this mess.

I've never been a big Patrick Swayze fan, but it's a shame that this will more than likely be his last feature film. At least he wasn't one of the main characters. I'm not much of a fan of the other actors either, but none of them should have agreed to be part of such a cheesy story.

There were two main unrelated story lines. One was about Jessica Biel's character and the other about Forest Whitaker's. Not once during the movie did I relate to or feel anything for either. I think this is mostly because the story appeared to be written by a junior high school student who learned everything they know by watching made for television movies.

The writer/director must have thought that having a fair amount of gratuitous nudity sprinkled in here and there would somehow add to the credibility of the story. Of course Jessica character was a stripper and that would make it so much more interesting, right? Ray Liotta has really been a disappointment in everything that I've seen him in lately. He has not aged well at all. And one small scene with Kris Kristofferson on the bus with Ray Liotta. Why did he bother? It seemed that the director was simply trying to assemble enough well know names in this stinker to draw in diverse audiences. I'm sure that most, if not all of them look back on this movie and wonder "what was I thinking...how did I get sucked into this?"

I was able to get this from my library for free, so all it cost me was my time. If you want to see it, check with your library first, if all you want to do is waste your time.

Life as we know it ... well not exactly as we know it, but then again characters and a story we can get behind. Or at least feel with the "players" (if you consider life a game that is). And while there have been quite a few movies that do use the cross time lines and different characters, that might or might not have a common goal or something else in common, this is a very nice tryout too.

Just don't watch it for one scene involving Jessica Biel. If your sole purpose is to watch that scene, do not bother with the rest and fast forward to that scene and get it over with. Because you wouldn't care for the build-up and the character moments anyway. Of course they are important, but also put that scene into a perspective that some viewer might not like ...

Having said that, if Drama is your cup of tea, you will watch it either way. Not "Crash", but still solid