pleasantly surprised... sometimes

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2007)

I'll be honest: "Inside Man" is not Oscar-worthy. But neither is it fantastically horrible. It's one of those movies you borrow from Netflix (because hey, why not?), enjoy on a Saturday afternoon, and forget you ever watched two weeks later.
"Inside Man" has three things going for it: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and a complicated (if not a little convoluted) plot. Washington excels as the fast-talking, fast-thinking main character. I'm sure he has more than twice the lines of everyone else in the movie, including Clive Owen. Mr. Owen has not impressed me with most of his previous work (perhaps with the exception of "The Closer"), but his complex character and the way he fleshed him out was fascinating to me. The plot, though filled with holes, is interesting and complex enough to keep everyone guessing almost to the end. I also liked the subtle things the movie had to say about race, gender, and age relations.
On the downside, there's Jodie Foster. Though I usually enjoy her work, she was completely wrong for this part. The most annoying part of her performance is her odd hand motions, which I suppose were part of her character...? I thought her inclusion in the movie was somewhat unneeded.
I was also extremely offended by the use of the "c" word... completely unnecessary and cringe-worthy, especially coming out of Christopher Plummer's mouth. Otherwise, I enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to any casual movie-watcher,