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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Insider, The
Buena Vista Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for language
Starring
Al Pacino,
Russell Crowe,
Christopher Plummer,
and
Diane Venora
This is the true story of Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe), the tobacco executive-turned-whistleblower and his relationship with "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino).
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Marie Brenner (article The Man Who Knew Too Much)
Eric Roth
Michael Mann
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Michael Mann
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 11, 2000
Video: April 11, 2000
Theatrical: November 5, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
160 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
May be the best movie of the year.
100
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
With it's dynamite performances, strafing wit and dramatic provocation, The Insider offers Mann at his best -- blood up, unsanitized and unbowed.
100
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
A marvelous ensemble cast and all the visceral impact and moment-to-moment tension of a fine thriller, together with the distinctive visual style of an art film.
100
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Excellent acting, a stirring screenplay, and crisply intelligent directing make this fact-based movie a great human drama as well as a riveting and revealing look at crucially important social issues.
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It's a terrific movie -- intelligent, magnificently acted, highly compelling as a thriller, and downright scary in its implications for the corporate-run world of the new millennium.
90
Slate
David Edelstein
A big, overlong, and rather unwieldy piece of storytelling, but the story it has to tell is so vital that it cuts through all the dramaturgical muddiness. It's a terrific muckraking melodrama--it will get people fuming.
90
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
Has the glorious look and immaculate technique we expect from Mann, along with a wealth of superb secondary performances.
90
Newsweek
David Ansen
Reveals a chilling reality: how hard it is to tell a simple truth when big business doesn't want it told.
90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
A well-orchestrated nightmare that keeps you on edge until the very end.
90
Mr. Showbiz
Richard T. Jameson
For two hours and 35 minutes it is absolutely riveting.
90
The New York Times
Janet Maslin
Is still sleek, gripping entertainment with a raw-nerved, changeable camera style that helps to amplify its meaning.
90
Time
Richard Corliss
The viewer almost has to be a journalist--or a good editor--to sniff out the meat under all the fat.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
A dead-on tale of corporate power, courage, cowardice and how we live.
90
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
Almost cagily creating understated drama from high-stakes reality.
88
USA Today
Mike Clark
At its best, hard-hitting grown-up cinema (rare these days) and a movie blessed with a villain (Big Tobacco) for which all gloves can be removed and heaved into the next county.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Power to absorb, entertain and anger.
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
This is a first-class muckraking melodrama: an admirable picture.
88
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
A big, bold movie that gets at undeniable truths about the way no one, no matter how powerful, is immune from manipulation.
83
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Earnest, smart, handsome, well-acted and made with mastery.
80
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
May be pumped-up, but it's rarely boring
80
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
The final product is great populist entertainment and may even leave audiences with a feeling of comfort, however fleeting, in the knowledge that corrupt corporations don't always win
80
Film.com
Robert Horton
It's great that this movie exists.
80
TNT RoughCut
Tom Cappello
Overall, a solid piece of film that not only entertains but also educates.
75
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
A beautifully shot, well-acted movie that manages to make a complicated, real-life story without much drama feel like a thriller.
75
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
Tells an important story about a story that might never have been told at all.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Few American directors drive this wedge between mind and gut as masterfully as Michael Mann.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Pacino and Crowe are at their best, but the supporting cast also shines.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A good but far from great movie because it portrays truth telling in America as far more imperiled than it is.
75
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
A meticulously assembled dramatization of a grossly controversial moment in TV history.
70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
An exciting dramatization of the strange events that marked the turning of the legal tide against Big Tobacco, and a particularly dark moment in the annals of CBS News.
70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A borderline pretentious, overly inflated picture.
70
Film.com
Sean Means
The insider's view of celebrity in The Insider grabs the spotlight from the real story of Wigand's courage.
63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
A big, dark juggernaut of a movie about a big, dark juggernaut of a subject.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's all a little too polished, a little too smug to be ranked up there as one of the great journalism films.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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