Delayed Reaction: The Insider

Premise: A whistleblower for Big Tobacco goes through hell as 60 Minutes works on a story about him to expose cigarette manufacturer secrets.

 

It takes a movie like The Insider to remind me how long ago the 90s really were. My generation thinks of the 90s as just yesterday but they weren't. The 90s were so long ago that a story about tobacco executives making cigarettes more addictive was big news. An interview confirming that tobacco executives simply knew that cigarettes were addictive was dangerous enough that it could warrant a lawsuit that would topple the entirety of CBS. Imagine that. None of this is shocking or even slanderous these days, but a quarter century ago, this was big news. So, it's hard to put The Insider in context. The movie feels like an overreaction. I had to stop repeatedly myself from thinking "would the tobacco industry really be that afraid of a guy telling people what we already know?". In the early 90s: Yeah, that's plausible.

 

Whether you like or hate the press, you have to admit, like police, doctors, and firemen, it's easy to make them look heroic in movies. I love a good story about a reporter who just wants to know the truth. The Insider is a nice slant on that, because it's a journalism producer instead and it's less about discovering the truth as it is allowing the truth to be broadcast. I suspect had I seen it in 1999, The Insider would've felt like it came out too soon, like how I felt about The Social Network in 2010. With some distance though, it's easier to appreciate the movie and not think about if Christopher Plummer is the best casting for Mike Wallace at the time.

 

This movie has the same intrigue as the John Grisham adaptations of the 90s but the attention to process of Michael Mann's other movies. With peak era Russell Crowe (his first of three consecutive Oscar nominations) and a dialed down Al Pacino, this ends up being a breezy 2.5 hours. I can't say for sure whether this makes me long for how journalism used to be or long for a journalism that never was, but it sure is nice to think that this is how it worked at some point. Guys putting their careers on the line to break a story that gets the truth to the people; corporate interests be damned.
 

Finally, I didn't realize how Louisville-centric the movie is. Jeffrey Wigand's (Crowe) bits are pretty much all in Louisville. My hometown doesn't get many things shot here, so it's always a thrill to recognize stuff like the Seelbach Hotel in a scene. I'd be lying if I said it had no impact on my enjoyment of the movie.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend