Crash Into Someone Else

Do you really need us here, folks? The title is explained in the very first line of the movie.

WATERS: It's the sense of touch. […] Any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.

Okay, so that is the movie explaining its own title. But do you believe the explanation? Does anyone willfully crash into someone else? And if this is a movie about human contact, why isn't it called Hug? Wouldn't that be a nicer story?

Most of the disasters that happen in the movie happen because people aren't communicating. They're totally cut off from each other. Everyone is miserable in one way or another, and it's like they start reverting to their worst selves in order to blame their misery on other people. Having a bad day? Must be your Mexican maid's fault. Worried about your dad? Take it out on the nearest Black person behind a desk.

It goes on and on.

It's as if this lack of communication—and lack of basic humanity—creates a situation in which the only communication that can happen is explosive and destructive.

You know, a crash.