watching crash , the recurring thought that popped into my mind was `damn , i wonder how these people afford auto insurance . ' i mean , here we have a movie about people screwing like rabbits while at the same time crashing cars left and right . and , although crash's really made of a lot tougher stuff than the two of those , they constitute such a large amount of the plot and curious draw of this safe haven of sadomasochism that the producers used the quote `…sex and car crashes' ( ironically , from a review that blasts the film ) to advertise their celluloid psychosexual psychosis . leave it to me to be thinking of auto insurance rates , when a sexy actresses like deborah kara unger is going at it onscreen . crash is the story of james ballard ( james spader , picking his most interesting ( and perverse ) role since sex , lies , and videotape ) ) , a man who is living in a marriage with a primal curse : his wife , catherine ( deborah kara unger ) , cannot reach orgasm . she loves sex – her habits are downright nymphomaniacle and the marriage is open-ended – but nothing she can do can make her reach orgasm . her husband makes this both his personal quest and problem… the two wonder constantly about each other's sexual partners , go at it at least twice a day , and often have sex at the office . yet nothing's quite doing it for cathy . she's just not getting her big o . one day , while driving home from working on a car crash safety commercial , ballard has a head-on-collision with dr . helen remmington ( holly hunter ) . remmington's husband dies , flying through the windshield , and the last thing ballard witnesses before he passes out is remmington ripping open her shirt and proceeding to begin enjoying herself in the car . 
