Poor movie, too long, weak acting

Rating: 3/10 (2 August 2000)

The Insider captured my interest from the very first ad I saw for it and my friends and I (the 9 of us that went to see it) were dying to go. We went a week after opening and watched it, and the entire time sat there thinking "why on earth is this getting all the praise of critics and audiences?" Russell Crowe began the movie in a downtrodden and depressed state so as the movie progresses and his life takes a turn for the worse, the empathy which is supposed to be invoked in viewers is merely a putrid mixture of boredom and pity. The three-hour tale left eight of us asking why we paid hard-earned money for it. My recommendation? Wait until it comes on t.v. and there's absolutely nothing better to do, and even then.. go for a walk instead.