Movie review: Inside Man

Inside Man: Torgo approves

I approve, but not wholeheartedly. This is a Spike Lee movie. One of his last, 25th Hour, is one of the best movies I've seen in years. Coming off of that, this one is a letdown. Denzel Washington is great, as usual, and he has some strong material and strong directing to work with, but there are many flaws here.

Let me start with the good. Spike Lee loves New York City. I don't. But if anything could make me like NYC, it's the way Spike Lee seduces the viewer with its beauty. His camera finds the most alluring shots, more so than Woody Allen or Martin Scorcese, other directors with a similar love of the city. With Spike Lee, he romances you with the architecture and natural beauty. His affection is perfectly captured in the cinematography. This is something that has become, I think, more prevalent since 9/11, but was always there.

I mentioned already how good Denzel Washington is here. So is Willem Dafoe. He's one of my favorite actors. He has a small role, but does good things with it. Clive Owen is good, too.

That's the good, now the bad.

First, Jodie Foster. I thought I liked her, but recently I've realized that she's not that strong of an actress. Here, also, she suffers from bad writing. Whereas Denzel's role is written with lively, clever dialogue, everything that comes out of Foster's mouth is tedious and uninteresting. This goes for Christopher Plummer as well. His acting is a little stronger, but his character is a remnant from some 70's paranoia movie, like Marathon Man.

Which brings me to the plot. This is a bank heist movie. It acknowledges openly its debt to one other heist movie, Dog Day Afternoon, one of my favorites (in fact, two actors repeat their roles from that film here, according to IMDB). But it doesn't acknowledge its virtual plagiarism of Quick Change, a vastly underrated comedy directed by (and starring) Bill Murray.

The basic plot here is the same as in Murray's film. There's far less humor, though. Quick Change deserves remembering. It had great roles for Jason Robards, Tony Shaloub, Randy Quaid and Geena Davis. It was clever throughout (dragging a bit near the end, but still finishing well). It's worth watching.

Inside Man is worth watching if you've seen Dog Day Afternoon and Quick Change and enjoy the genre. Oh, see The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 first, too. Same style, but with the great Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau.

This one is saved by Spike Lee's strong visual style, Denzel Washington's performance, and not much else.

(NPR's Scott Simon discusses Quick Change vs. Inside Man with the NY Times' Elvis Mitchell here.)