Crowe and Mann were robbed....

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2001)

This compared to American Beauty-this is to my thinking a better film, a decent portrayal of a real-life drama that we saw unfold on TV, in the press and on radio. What Mann, Pacino and Crowe have done is give us some of the more kinetic scenes and performances in the past 20 years or so. Terrific stuff at times.
I had a few problems with the Insider, mostly in that they try to cram in too much without enough time devoted to them.
Gina Gershon and Debi Mazar resemble each other enough so that I hadda really pay attention to tell who was who, and what it was Debi's character did. She has hardly any lines despite being in many scenes. Diane Verona as the long suffering Wife of Wigand isn't really developed into a three dimensional character, and I agree-when she leaves Crowe, we don't feel it as much as we ought.
Hall and Plummer also resemble one another enough so that I found myself thinking-THAT is Hewitt, THIS is Wallace, more than once.

And there were a few scenes that did not fit-notably the 'FBI/Geologists in the restaurant' scene. I had no idea what 'arrest' they were talking about, or where this was in relation to the whole tobacco case until they wedged in the Unibomber stuff at the end. Maybe they coulda done without that entirely? I think so.
But overall-the acting, the pacing, the feel for what these people went through, I found to be genuine, true, heartfelt, very well done. Crowe at times kept on looking like a guy who was my age(more or less) with white hair, but I still think he deserved an Oscar.
Overall, a really goof film, and to my thinking, BETTER than American Beauty.
***1/2 outta ****.