# Insider, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Rose 'Bams' Cooper

    '3 Black Chicks Review...'

The Insider (1999) Rated R; running time 152 minutes Genre: Drama IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0140352 Official site: http://www.theinsider-themovie.com/ Written by: Eric Roth (based on the article by Marie Brenner) Directed by: Michael Mann Starring: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Gina Gershon, Wings Hauser, Debi Mazar (Debbie De Luca), Lindsay Crouse (Sharon Tiller), Stephen Tobolowsky (Eric Kluster), Colm Feore (Richard Scruggs), Bruce McGill (Ron Motley), Michael Gambon (Thomas Sandefur), Rip Torn (John Scanlon), Lynne Thigpen (Mrs. Williams), Hallie Kate Eisenberg (Barbara Wigand), Robert Harper (Mark Stern), Nestor Serrano (FBI Agent Robertson), Pete Hamill (N.Y. Times Reporter), Cliff Curtis (Sheik Fadlallah), Renee Olstead (Deborah Wigand), Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore (Himself), Robbie G. Tomlin (Sammy Bergman), Clyde Lee (WRTV 6 Newscaster), Eyal Podell (Lowell's Son), Madeleine Reller (Lesley Stahl), Chris Ufland (Doug Oliver)

Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsinsider.html

Remember way back in December when I reviewed "Any Given Sunday" and wondered if, as an actor, Al Pacino had grown as tired as his football coach character was? Well, based on his performance in The Insider, Pacino is as full of piss and vinegar as he was back in his Dog Day Afternoon prime.

The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): In a movie populated with far too many characters to give proper attributes to in this small space, the central characters of Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) stand out most. Jeffrey Wigand, a scientist and V.P. at tobacco giant Brown & Williamson, is pursued by CBS' "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman after Wigand is fired from B&W and Bergman is given anonymous tips by an insider that tobacco companies knowingly and willfully put harmful chemicals in their cigarettes to get smokers hooked on them. Even though Wigand has been fired, he hesitates to talk to Bergman and reporter Mike Wallace about the company, due to a confidentiality clause he signed with B&W, and in fact Wigand finds himself under increasing harassment and smear campaign tactics from unnamed sources (who he naturally assumes are connected to B&W) to keep his mouth shut.

After Bergman convinces him that Bergman and a group of lawyers he hires can protect Wigand, Wigand agrees to be interviewed by Wallace; but that confidentiality clause comes back to haunt both men when Bergman, Wallace, and Executive Producer Don Hewitt (Phillip Baker Hall) are put under pressure by CBS' legal department, led by Helen Caperelli (Gina Gershon), to drop Wigand's interview from the "60 Minutes" story. Remarkably, the CBS executives do just that, leaving Wigand to suffer the smear campaign alone, after his wife Liane (Diane Venora) and children leave him. Bergman, however, has other plans...

The Upshot: Let me be perfectly frank: I didn't go to see "The Insider" because I'd heard it was Da Bomb. I didn't go because I had 2.5 hours of free time on a lonely Saturday night (trust me, I didn't), nor because I had a hankerin' to see a Good Guy vs Bad Guy fable. I'll be straight-up with you; I went to see this flick for the same reason that tens of Jonny-come-lately critics and moviegoers went to see it after its re-release: because it was nominated for an Academy Award. I'll not put forth any illusions that I cared for the tone of this film, for its High Moral Stance about the trials and travails of the Little Whistleblower versus the Big Bad Tobacco Company in the one corner, and the Evil Media Empire in the other. I mean, to me, this movie rested squarely on the same continuum of last year's simple-minded, ridiculously hyped (and sheeple-ly watched) Titanic flick: Little Man Blow Whistle. Big Bad Tobacco Company Squash Little Whistleblower. Evil Media Empire Leave Little Whistleblower Twisting In Wind. Little Whistleblower Fight Back. Good Triumphs Over Evil. End Of Movie. And to an extent, that's how it's laid out for the viewer.

That extent, of course, doesn't do much justice to the powerhouse performances by Pacino, Crowe, and the underappreciated Plummer, an actor whose characters always have the same sly grin that a Rottweiler might just before he tears you a new one. Crowe garnered an Oscar nomination for his against-type performance, a nod which he richly deserved; an Aussie whose next big flick, Gladiator, has him filling Kirk Douglas' sandals, Crowe sinks his teeth into this meaty role and digs in--even when it gets Weird. And the aforementioned Pacino puts in a solid performance that makes me wonder why he, too, wasn't seriously considered for a nomination. Lack of character flaws aside (though it was a central issue for me that both Bergman and Wigand were presented as Put-Upon Heros with little culpability), they both did an outstanding job in keeping the noticeably-longish movie going smoothly, for the most part.

Michael Mann's direction, on the other hand, tended to get in the way for me; while I'm sure there are critics out there, hailing Mann's so-close-up-the-nose, you-wanna-grab-a-tissue closeups as the pinnacle of cinematic art, I found them as tedious as Weigand's hallucinations were laughable. Mann didn't totally screw the pooch--his artistic use of light and shadows, and beautiful shots of the Mississippi coastline, really worked for me, as did his general direction of the actors themselves. But those closeups gave me a daggone headache.

As for the movie itself, in the end, it all boils down to this: the movie, as good as it may have been, failed to impart a sense of Urgency! in me, because of the times we live in in American society. Crooked politicians, slimy lawyers, opportunistic Media outlets, morally-bankrupt businesses: they're all part and parcel of The System in which we all are trapped; for all its chest-thumping, this movie isn't telling us something we don't already know.

As I said earlier, there are far too many characters--and actors--to properly attribute from this lengthy film (thus, the addition of character names next to the credited actors above but not mentioned in the body of this review). Try as I might, I can't even remember half of the characters that the Internet Movie Database lists in starring roles (and the Flash-laden official movie site doesn't help much). But for all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the main players, there's one scene late in the movie, involving two character actors playing lawyers (one of whom is Wings Hauser, and the other whose name escapes me right now, though he's one of those actors whose face you never forget) that was the highlight of this flick for me, so much so that I find myself often repeating the name-I-forget's memorable line. Keeping this great scene as spoiler-free as I can, I'll summarize it thusly: at Weigand's relatively informal hearing in Mississippi, Hauser's character, a lawyer for the tobacco interests, continually harangues Weigand, telling him he can't break his confidentiality agreement; he does this to the objection of name-I-forget, who reminds Hauser's character that they aren't in a jury trial and he should just chill. Hauser's character, of course, fails to chill, and as their argument comes to a head, name-I-forget breaks off with "The Saaavern State 'a Mih-sippi is tellin' you to shut! the! hell! up!". Or something like that.

Maybe you had to be there, but it had me rollin'.

The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: I actually hesitate to bring this up within the context of the BF, because the comparison isn't valid strictly along these lines--but since I've read it bandied about in many email messages forwarded hither and yon, I'm hoping that the inclusion of the comparison within this space, will bring an end to the playing of this particular race card:

It's no secret that "The Insider" as well as another current movie based on a true story, "The Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington, are "burdened" by untruths, if not outright lies, included as "dramatic license". Where "Insider" acknowledged these "fibs" in disclaimers displayed in the end credits, "Hurricane" did not, and "Hurricane" seemingly suffered the consequences for it, in both bad publicity and, likely, in not being given an Oscar nomination. Some would say that an unspoken consideration was the two movie's racial makeup--"Hurricane" being, in their eyes, a Black movie. To that, I say, get over it--and remember that Denzel picked up a Best Actor nod for that role. Fibs and all.

Bammer's Bottom Line: "Tobacco companies put Bad Stuff in cigarettes so that smokers will continue to ignore the limp warnings on the ciggy packages, and puff until their lungs are coated black with tar? Noooo, really? And The Media has no backbone, hiding behind The Peoples Right To Know whenever it suits them? Git outta heah, ya gotta be kiddin me! What's next, you'll tell me that "Titanic" was a dumb piece of fluff about a big boat that Hit Iceberg, Go Boom?" Duh, so what's new?

"The Insider" (rating: greenlight): Good performances that are as much wasted on a "No sh*t, Sherlock" tale.

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    Rose "Bams" Cooper                                   /','\
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