An Entertaining Lark

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2006)

If you're a fan of Spike Lee (and I most assuredly am since I was one of the twenty people who actually saw his last film, "She Hate Me"), there's a certain smug satisfaction in watching his latest "joint", "Inside Man." Spike Lee has never been a populist entertainer. His movies are almost always overtly talky, political, and married to New York City (I would even go so far as to call him the black Woody Allen). He has as many detractors and he does fans. There have been a few occasions where he's sidestepped to different types of stories (that were still very urban and very New York), fantastically disastrously with "Summer of Sam" and surprisingly deep with his superb "25th Hour." Here, hooking up with long-time collaborator Denzel Washington (who gives a cracker-jack performance as a slick hostage negotiator), Lee gives us his first flick of pure entertainment, and it's the kind of twisty, thrilling lark you would normally get from a latter day Hitchcock or a David Mamet at the top of his game.
Like all great director's directors, Spike Lee, taking a que from Scorcese, picks a stale genre (the heist flick) and infuses it with his New York flair and socially conscious commentary. Sure, this is a film about the perfect crime (where robbing a bank is a cover for a much larger plot), but it also has the typical Spike Lee nods to society, race, and class struggles. There's plenty to delight in here, from Lee's self assured direction, to Denzel's perfect line delivery, to Clive Owen's oh-so-smooth performance as the heist-master extraordinaire, to Jodie Foster's atypical and surprisingly sexy turn as a consultant brought on the scene by the big-wigs to get things done. Foster, who has made a nice little niche as the prototypical "powerful mother in crisis," in films like "Panic Room" and "Flight Plan" is perfectly channeled here by Lee to turn her typical iciness into cool seduction, and who knew she had such great legs!? Leave it if Lee to channel the sexiness of everyday women. Take for instance the closing shot of Denzel's girlfriend lying in bed in her negligee twirling his hat with her feet. It's the type of classy, jazzy riff on sensuality and showmanship Lee revels in when he's not mad at the world. It's a perfect ending to "Inside Man" and a reminder to the audience: sure, there may have been plot holes you could drive a swat team through, but who cares as long as you were entertained.