New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
xx Baby on Board
xx Bob Funk
62 Cherry Blossoms
38 Confessions of a Shopaholic
38 Crossing Over
38 Dark Streets
58 Defiance
45 Fanboys
31 Fired Up
37 Forever Strong
34 Friday the 13th
72 Gran Torino
47 He's Just Not That Into You
47 Inkheart
52 International, The
45 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
50 Madea Goes to Jail
51 Morning Light
51 My Bloody Valentine 3-D
29 New in Town
28 Nobel Son
40 Outlander
39 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
56 Phoebe in Wonderland
36 Pink Panther 2
xx Powder Blue
69 Revolutionary Road
20 Spinning Into Butter
17 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63 Tokyo!
74 Two Lovers
56 Valkyrie
91 Waltz with Bashir
22 What Goes Up

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Insider, The
Buena Vista Pictures


8.6

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

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.

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.

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.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Has the glorious look and immaculate technique we expect from Mann, along with a wealth of superb secondary performances.

Newsweek David Ansen

Reveals a chilling reality: how hard it is to tell a simple truth when big business doesn't want it told.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A well-orchestrated nightmare that keeps you on edge until the very end.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

For two hours and 35 minutes it is absolutely riveting.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

Is still sleek, gripping entertainment with a raw-nerved, changeable camera style that helps to amplify its meaning.

Time Richard Corliss

The viewer almost has to be a journalist--or a good editor--to sniff out the meat under all the fat.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A dead-on tale of corporate power, courage, cowardice and how we live.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Almost cagily creating understated drama from high-stakes reality.

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Power to absorb, entertain and anger.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

This is a first-class muckraking melodrama: an admirable picture.

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.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Earnest, smart, handsome, well-acted and made with mastery.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

May be pumped-up, but it's rarely boring

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

Film.com Robert Horton

It's great that this movie exists.

TNT RoughCut Tom Cappello

Overall, a solid piece of film that not only entertains but also educates.

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.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Tells an important story about a story that might never have been told at all.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Few American directors drive this wedge between mind and gut as masterfully as Michael Mann.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Pacino and Crowe are at their best, but the supporting cast also shines.

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.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

A meticulously assembled dramatization of a grossly controversial moment in TV history.

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.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A borderline pretentious, overly inflated picture.

Film.com Sean Means

The insider's view of celebrity in The Insider grabs the spotlight from the real story of Wigand's courage.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A big, dark juggernaut of a movie about a big, dark juggernaut of a subject.

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 8.6 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sean K. gave it a10:
My all time favorite film. Mann truly has crafted a masterpiece so brisk bold and utterly electrifying. Pacino and Crowe both give great oscar winning potrayles especially Pacino. The film serves you the truth raw and tantalizing. The plot is one of the most intelligent of our generation giving all the characters a slick and open world to work in. I would highly reccommend this to everyone especially fans of Manns work.

Pat C. gave it a6:
Good show, but takes itself too seriously. It is not possible to dehumanize tobacco companies without disrespecting their customers. Philip Seymor Hoffman would have been better in the role played by Russell Crowe, who was made up to look like, yup, Philip Seymor Hoffman.

Marcus D. gave it an8:
Great performances by Pacino, Crowe, and Venora. Great cinematography, sound, editing, and score. Poorly paced down the stretch.

M Stylez gave it a10:
Genius.

Emery M. gave it a10:
One of the most socially and politcally important films of the last decade. It is a "twofer;" a scathing expose of the tobacco industry and of the media industry. A must see for any thinking person.

W Ross gave it a9:
Brilliant movie. Definately Mann's best movie to date. One of Pacino's best performance in years. Jon C, why don't you go home and watch "Bringing up Baby", you dolt.

J. Ryan G. gave it a9:
An intense, wholly satisfying exercise in empathy and investigation.

Insider, The Buena Vista Pictures

Insider, The
Buena Vista Pictures