The Insider, Michael Mann, 1999

The Insider, directed by Michael Mann, stars a young Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. The movie, based on real life events, tells the story of Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) who enjoyed a good job as the chief scientist at Brown & Brown Williamson Tobacco. While at Brown & Brown, Jeffery signed a confidentiality contract. This not so uncommon practice also meant that Jeffery had to participate in the nicotine cover up that Brown & Brown created when they suppressed evidence that proved nicotine was addictive. The cover-up didn’t end there though. Brown & Brown also added extra amounts of nicotine to their cigarettes in order to boost sales.

The movie takes off when Jeffery can no longer stand his conscience and tells the story to the “60 Minutes” reporter, Lowell Bergman (Pacino). This is followed by backlash from Brown & Brown and along the way Jeffery, Lowell, and a host of other witnesses are threatened with both professional and financial ruin.

The movie is intense in certain places and also leaves the viewer guessing in quite a few places. However, the movie is about three hours in length which is a very long movie. There is little action as most of the suspense is built in other ways. This of course can make for a long movie when you consider the time length of it. Overall, the movie was okay. Unlike some movies that I can watch over and over again, this isn’t one of them. Once is enough for me.