Inside Man
Studio: Universal Pictures
Rated: R
Website: http://www.insideman.net/index.php
Release Date: 2006-03-31
Cast: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriter: Russell Gewirtz
WorkNameSort: Inside Man
Our Rating: 2.50
Viewers who cut their teeth on Dog Day Afternoon are most likely to look charitably on Spike Lee’s latest, in which detective Denzel Washington tries to decode the curious behavior of criminals who have taken over a Manhattan bank. Though there’s a dearth of genuine action, the story keeps throwing out enough mini-mysteries to command our attention. The flaw that can’t be gotten around is the utter mismatch of such potboiler material with Lee’s plodding, self-important directorial style, which relies on interminably held takes, needless injections of “social relevance” (charge screenwriter Russell Gerwitz with aiding and abetting) and an almost supernatural ability to get the worst performances out of actors both famous and unknown. Lee long ago lost the public’s ear, and with it the opportunity to race-bait his critics into submission. So why are we still too frightened to admit that he’s inept?
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2006.