I think I missed the boat on this one.

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2000)

I honestly couldn't get into this movie. It was long, slow, and boring, and the two and a half hours it lasted felt like about four and a half. The story was an interesting one, though probably not as well known in the rest of the world (other than in the U.S.), but for me the interest in the story started to dissolve after about the first hour. The jumping camera I'm guessing was designed to give a documentary feel (??) to the story, but it just made the film irritating to watch. I went to see the film on the basis of all the good reviews it had received, and also the buzz surrounding Russell Crowe's performance, but I was left disappointed. I realise it was a stretch for him to play a middle-age family man, but he didn't convince me, so for me that's where the movie fell down. I kept thinking there's Crowe wandering about with talc powder in his hair, and this is supposed to be a great performance. I couldn't believe he was Wigand, and that was essential for me to get into the movie. I hope he doesn't win the Academy Award because his performance didn't impress me in the slightest. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty convinced me immediately that he was Lester, and although I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I would have hoped (something to do with it being so hyped up before I saw it), the performance was far superior to Crowe's effort. The Insider tells an important story, but the film's own sense of importance is what made it hard viewing for me. I felt no sympathy for Wigand's wife even though she understandably (in terms of her wanting to protect her family) didn't want Wigand to continue with his testimony because he was putting her family at risk, even though it was the right thing to do. Instead I found her an irritating character, and a bit one-dimensional. In my book, the films high points were the actor who played Wigand's lawyer in the scene where he is trying to get Wigand's testimony despite objections from the opposing lawyer, and Al Pacino's various one-liners scattered throughout the movie. The psychedelic scene in the hotel room when then wall begins to change and visions of his daughters appear was a bit out of place with the rest of the film. I know this was an attempt to give the viewer a sense of how far down Wigand had sunk mentally, but it just seemed so out of place and bizarre .Of the two main characters, I thought Pacino was much better, but he hasn't attracted as much praise. Unlike Crowe, Pacino immediately made me believe he was Lowell Bergman. All in all I felt the film was too long, and lacked the pace to maintain my interest.