After Bergman (Al Pacino, The Devil’s Advocate) secures the interview, the gold-domed white buildings give way to the white lab coats of Louisville’s Brown & Williamson, where Vice President of Research and Development Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe, Mystery, Alaska) has just been fired. The good news is that he will receive a beefy severance package and continued health benefits, which will both keep his family in the lifestyles to which they’ve grown accustomed and ensure medical care for his eldest daughter who suffers from acute asthma. The bad news is that Wigand was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevents him from disclosing any information regarding his employer, who happens to be one of the country’s largest tobacco manufacturers. And he knows secrets that could severely cripple any company that makes cigarettes.

More of a scientist than your typical corporate VP, Wigand, who was previously employed by Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Union Carbide, has been struggling internally for years. He’s been taking the big payoff for something that he knows is wrong. Bergman is given Wigand’s name as someone who can translate scientific data for a fire safety piece that 60 Minutes is producing. But after speaking with each other, Bergman feels that Wigand has a story to tell and Wigand realizes that Bergman represents a chance to clear his conscience and inform the public that tobacco companies are chemically enhancing nicotine to be even more addictive.

Despite this opportunity, the doughy Wigand is still reluctant. Just meeting Bergman has thrown his life into chaos. His former employer is asking for an addendum to confidentiality agreement, he thinks he’s being stalked, and the local FBI agents seem to be in someone’s pocket. The Insider tells the true story of Wigand’s decision to become a whistleblower and the dramatic effects that the decision has on his life. It also shows the internal struggle behind the scenes at 60 Minutes, as CBS fears that airing Wigand’s interview could result in a huge lawsuit.

Based on Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article called "The Man Who Knew Too Much," the film was adapted by Eric Roth (The Horse Whisperer) and director Mann. Crowe’s performance is simply amazing, as is Christopher Plummer’s (Twelve Monkeys), who plays 60 Minutes vet Mike Wallace. Pacino is typically wonderful and Philip Baker Hall (The Truman Show) effectively portrays 60 Minutes chief Don Hewitt. Mann’s direction is successfully accented by several scenes that are shot out of frame with no dialogue, relying on the film’s moving score to power itself.

Despite being a brilliant film, Mann’s self-indulgent style proves that he has no respect for the asses of moviegoers. This is the guy that turned Heat, a run-of-the-mill crime drama into a three-hour epic. The Insider could have easily been 30 to 40 minutes shorter and, as a result, a much better film. His choppy editing was, at times, frustrating. A film of this magnitude really needed a lot of long, sweeping shots – especially in a scene like Bergman’s blindfolded interview in the film’s opening. And the driving-range-stalking scene was way too much. Perhaps a nice, quick montage of Wigand noticing the same guy following him at the bank, the grocery store, the post office and the liquor store would have been better. But "quick" isn’t a word in Mann’s vocabulary. I think he may be Kevin Costner’s cousin.

2:37 – for adult language and the threat of violence