Rating: 
Summary: Pretty much a waste of time
Review: The story itself, which is based on real events, is interesting but the filmmakers made it into a weak feature film. There is too much unnecessary information and the "60 minutes" peoples' portrayal is too harsh. Some scenes are repeated during the film and the overall dialogue can [at times] put you to sleep.
I give this film two stars instead of one because of Russel Crowe's superb acting.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing film
Review: I just have to say that everything Russell Crowe is in turns to gold. The praise doesn't stop there, Al Pacino is in this movie, and he's always great, and this movie was directed by Michael Mann, the same director of Heat (with Al Pacino, and the wife...) which was also an excellent movie. A friend told me he didn't want to see this movie because it was about smoking. It is certainly not about smoking I told him. It's so much more than simply "about smoking". Throughout the movie you really start to feel for Crowe who gets screwed for doing the right thing. Anyways, even if you don't buy this movie, I definitely recommend you spend the ~$3 to rent it ~Bill Moller
Rating:
Summary: A magnetic and insightful movie!
Review: I grabbed this movie because it was the only one still available in the video store on a Saturday night. The movie far exceeded my expectation! It is definitely one that is able to move you so far as thinking about humanity, ethics, broken life, integrity, and so many more issues faced by the society. The movie succeeded in presenting the viewers with the dilemmas faced by each party involved that it's almost impossible to blame any of them for the decision they had to make to protect themselves. This tobacco case might have been widely known at the time it happened, but what it did to Wigand's and Lowell's personal life was something that the public never quite understood. What makes this movie particularly special is its ability to bring the viewers personally inside the world and individual struggles of these two characters. Thumbs up to Al Pacino, and a special salute to Russell Crowe's Oscar-worthy performance!
Rating: 
Summary: Quite possibly the worst movie I have EVER seen!
Review: I still don't understand how this movie received such high reviews. This is possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. From start to (a very long) finish the movie just never picks up. Yes, it's a true story. But did they need to make a 3 hour movie out of it? My answer is a simple NO. This is just a perfect example of every movie critic not wanting to get on the bad side of Mike Wallace and saying truthfully the movie was God awful.
Rating:
Summary: A film that will widthstand the test of time.
Review: This film dives deep into your perception of the tobbacco industry, news programs, and major decision making. No matter how you feel about the things mentioned above, this is just an unbelievable movie. Russell Crowe should have definitely won the oscar for best actor. But, besides all that, it will make you ask the question: "Would I be willing to risk everything to expose a corporation that has been slowly killing people for years and years?" When I saw it in the theatre, I came out asking that question and feeling good about myself at the same time. This is a definite must see. Great acting, great story.
Rating:
Summary: Moral Play with Mann's Trademark Style
Review: Al Pacino and Russell Crowe team up under the directorial guidance of Michael Mann to conjure up the most convincing morality play offered last year. (OK, so there weren't that many offered up.) And though The Insider may be the story of a tobacco industry whistleblower, rather than a guns-ablazin' thriller like Heat or Miami Vice, the movie nonetheless bears Mann's distinctive imprint, reveling as it does in color and style. In those wind-blown beach scenes where Pacino is howling into his cell phone, you almost expect to see Tubbs and Crockett strolling by in the background. Pacino gives a more nuanced version of his trademarked rant 'n rave performance and makes for a believable Lowell Bergman. Plummer is certainly solid, too. But it's Crowe's performance that commands your attention. Who'd have thought the overweight grey-haired bloke in this movie could be the same ancient warrior with an Aussie accent in Gladiator. Crowe gives a detailed, affecting performance in a role which portrays Jeffrey Wigand realistically, not just as a hero, but as a human. There are moral complications in this movie aplenty, and, if Mann has meddled with the facts, he has still striven to do a better job of representing what happened than Oliver Stone did in JFK. Even without the gunfire, this moral tale is a thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Very engrossing film not likely to find a big audience
Review: This film has and will continue to be compared favorably with that classic treatment of journalistic and corporate/government ethics, "All the President's Men." Russell Crowe is excellent at creating a believeable--and not always likeable--hero. Pacino's histrionics are thankfully toned down, and Christopher Plumber nails Mike Wallace in a way that is both insightful and fair. The growing feeling of paranoia and hopelessness against the power of Tobacco is palpable. However, what nearly ruined the movie for me, was the cardboard, one-dimentional portrayal of Wigand's wife. Maybe she really WAS an unfeeling, shrewish, cotton-head ninny in real life, but after about 2 minutes of her in the film, I and others I watched the movie with wondered why HE hadn't walked out years before! The family life and an odd little subplot having to do with the unibomber? really needed to be developed a further to make sense. Still, I was with the movie from the start and it carried me all the way through. But I can see why it never really found a wide audience; it's a little too "in the head" for those who need more action and less complicated conflict.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: I saw this film when it came out in the theaters and again last night (May 29th, 2000). After seeing it in the theaters I thought that the movie was going to sweep the Oscars, it was that good. The movie makes you feel truely sorry for the main character, and throughout the movie you don't know what will become of him. When my family rented the film I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch the entire film again (it is over 2 1/2 hours). I was concerned that because I already knew what happened it make the film hard to sit through again. Boy was I wrong. The drama of the story swept me in again. And because the plot is a bit complex you have a chance to catch all of the things that you missed the first time. I would recommend this movie to everybody. If you are worried about the length of the film, don't be. I found the pace of the film keeps you interested and you will not be bored, even after the first viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Better than gladiator
Review: This is how interesting and attention grabbing The Insider is. I saw the microphone on its boom bob into the top of frame in three seperate scenes. Once it popped in twice in one scene. At the cinema, the woman in the seat three to my left practically lept up and yelled "look theres the microphone". As it was I was distracted by her pointing each time. It didn't matter, the movie was great anyway. I said to myself it gives it that documentary feel a true story has. As it turns out not everything in the film is true and Mr. Wigand's ex-wife has made public her disagreement with the way events surrounding the break up of their relationship as depicted in the movie. Plus there were no death threats. That as it maybe, the sense of being on edge is terrifically conveyed by Russell Crowes performance. The issues are somewhat technical but the crux is that Crowe's character could have done jail time for breaking a contract. Though I think lawyers would be glad to stop him in any way they could. There were attempts at a smear campaign and theres a crucial scene at the deposition of Crowe's character when the lawyers start shouting. Not the best formula for justice. If legal matters, politics or watching current affairs excite you and you'd like to see more then this is a film for you. If you've broken a contract and are awaiting a decision which will affect your fate then take heart from this but be warned. Michael Mann is a winner. He can make drama and then some, I was really hooked by this movie. Al Pacino gets a home run also and Christopher Plummer delivers convincingly. Full marks to all involved except the sound boom operator but this movie is so good I can forgive that.
Rating:
Summary: Docudrama of the highest caliber
Review: Based on a true story about a 1994 "60 Minutes" episode on criminal intrigue in the tobacco industry, an episode that was first killed because CBS was reluctant to step into the ring with opponents who had the will and perhaps the means to break the network financially. The story was revived and eventually aired on "60 Minutes" as a description of how pressure from big business had been applied to keep the original story off the air. We'll wait a long time for another docudrama of this caliber. Explosive conflicts between genuine superpowers, pretty much based on fact, just kept rolling out. First there was the one between Brown & Williamson tobacco company and its former scientist Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russel Crowe in the movie). In real life, Wigand was appalled by the knowledge that tobacco executives knew very well that nicotine was a strong addictive. He was incensed that seven of them flatly denied that fact in sworn testimony before Congress. Not only that, but Wigand knew that tobacco was being laced with additives that made it even more addictive. Anyone who has quit smoking knows just how addictive nicotine truly is, and how long the withdrawal period is. Wigand somehow released incriminating evidence which reached writer Marie Brenner. Her article in Vanity Fair magazine, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", was picked up on the radar at "60 Minutes". Not surprisingly, it did not escape notice by the powers at Brown & Williamson, who intensified the heat they were already applying to Wigand. After B&W learned that "60 Minutes" was flirting with the story, the second major conflict began festering as B&W and "60 Minutes" flexed their muscles in dead earnest. When veteran producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) cranked up his tooth drill and began getting right down into live nerves, the resulting battle - threats of multi-billion-dollar lawsuits and personal attacks on everybody in sight -- would intensify until Bergman was ultimately driven into retirement and Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) was face-to-face with the major ethical and pragmatic dilemma of his long television career. Wallace would prove to grit his teeth and do the right and courageous, if dangerous, thing. Still another conflict involved Brown & Williamson's lawyers and the Mississippi Attorney General's office, with Wigand in the middle. Whether or not it came about exactly as presented doesn't matter; the screen version had foundation in fact and was truly frightening movie drama. The conflict escalated into out-and-out war, the outcome of which was infinitely gratifying. The minefield B&W laid before Jeffrey Wigand, and ultimately before Mike Wallace and CBS, was intimidating in the extreme. Only a person who has been the target of a large and powerful law firm representing a money-is-no-object client can truly appreciate the horrible weapons in their arsenal, and how skilled and ruthless they are at deploying them. Director Michael Mann did a fine job of illustrating that the minefield would have been seen as impenetrable by most sane mortals. CBS caved in and ordered the story canceled. But Lowell Bergman was a grizzled veteran of journalistic warfare. By leaking information and planting innuendoes in critical places he blew the shackles off the story. It was Bergman's charisma, too, that kept Wigand's will from flagging. The Wall Street Journal ran with the story (winning a Pulitzer Prize) and the lid was blown off. His job done, a dispirited Lowell Bergman left CBS and "60 Minutes." The confrontation between big tobacco and a lone scientist with a conscience was the first shot in a war that ended with a quarter-trillion-dollar settlement of a suit brought by most of the 50 states. Al Pacino has an outstanding role as Bergman and plays it magnificently - positively great casting. Russell Crowe is perfect as a reluctant combatant, but one driven to right a terrible wrong. He draws a real line in the sand with this performance and backs it up in The Gladiator. Two and a half hours of fine, fine entertainment. Not one second of dead air space, either. This is another movie that those who appreciate the cream of the crop will want to watch many times. (Read Amazon's words above about why this video costs so much. You might want to wait.)
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