The Insider (1999)

I guess I'll never be able to forgive and forget. I'll always think of Michael Mann as that guy who foisted "Miami Vice" on the world in the 80's. That's a pretty unforgivable sin. And his excursions into filmmaking have generally been 3 hour plus epic opuses on themes and subjects I could give a damn about with actors I don't like. I can hardly stand to watch Deniro and Pacino for 5 minutes. Team them up in a 3 and a half hour crime drama. See ya. I could care less.

I wouldn't have even seen "The Insider" if it didn't garner a few Academy Award nominations. And perhaps it deserved a few. But it certainly isn't a great film nor Oscar worthy. It's a good film at best. Mann still needs to hire an editor with a ballsack.

"The Insider" is about "60 Minutes." The film can purport to be about a whistleblower in the cigarette industry, but in fact it's about the downfall of American television's investigative journalism. It's about the figurative death of Edward R. Murrow some years after the literal event. And in this capacity, it's a great film. It's even about the American public's wont to dismiss important news for "tabloid" news. In this way the film is also mildly effective.

What "The Insider" can't do is really make you care. Pacino is annoying but at least he is in a role that isn't his standard fare, playing a producer of the TV news show. Russell Crowe invents these little quirks that often are misjudged for "acting." We really don't like him in the film. He's pretty annoying too. Christopher Plummer has a much better time as Mike Wallace. This is some good stuff. Too bad the film isn't more about him. That would be something.

Mann peoples the minor roles, and there are a proverbial shitload of them, with TV actors and character actors. None of them really get to do anything. Debi Mazar, Gina Gershon, Rip Torn, Wings Hauser, Phillip Baker Hall, Stephen Tobolowsky, Michael Gambon, Lynne Thigpen, Hallie Kate eisenberg (that annoying little girl from the Pepsi commercials), none of them have anything to offer up here. Precisely because the film has nothing to offer them to do. Hell, Torn is in the film about 20 seconds. It's Mann trying to be Oliver Stone in "JFK" mode.

The worst part of the film is it's obvious symbolism attempting to mask itself as subtlety. If a sledgehammer is subtle, than the symbolism in the film is subtle. Here's an example: When Pacino's producer and Crowe's whistleblower are both lost and adrift in the story, trying desperately to figure out what to do, Mann films Pacino knee deep in the ocean. No shit. It's almost laughable.

Mann can't edit for anything. Not even with 3 editors helping him out. The film repeats itself, lingers aimlessly and takes 170 minutes to tell a 100 minute story, 120 tops. There's just much too much of nothing here. After 100 minutes, it's almost time to give up. But Mann has a final act that works pretty good and the story starts getting interesting, finally, so the film somehow salvages itself.

"The Insider" could have been a fantastic film. Even in Oliver Stone's hands. In Mann's limited grasp however, at best it's a great TV movie of the week. Mann wants it to be a miniseries.

Note:

Mann also acts as Co-Producer and Co-Scripter.

Filmed on location around the world, for no apparent reason. The high school scenes were shot in the actual school where the real whistleblower, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand taught.

The film credits a Vanity Fair article as it's story's source.

Report Card

Script: B-

Acting: A-

Cinematography\Lighting: C-

Special Effects\Make Up: C-

Music: F

Final Grade: C