Needs editing--A LOT!!!

Rating: 5/10 (8 December 1999)

Yeah, it's well acted, yeah it's got an intelligent script but those two elements do NOT make a great movie. This movie is a (needless) 2 hours and 35 minutes. There's no suspense (anyone who reads the newspaper or watches TV knows how it's going to end) and we get ENDLESS scenes repeating the same themes (tobacco industry is dangerous; CBS backed out; yadda, yadda, yadda). How this is getting good reviews is beyond me. I saw it in a packed movie house. When the film was over a lot of people came out complaining about the length and pointing out how half an hour could have been cut with NO loss to the story! Director Mann has made great long movies (Heat), but remember this guy is also responsible for real crap (The Keep). Unfortunately this falls somewhere in between. Wait for the video, so you can fast forward through the boring stuff (about half the movie).