Inside Man

Critic Reviews

[A] wily thriller, which revitalizes a familiar premise by turning it inside out.

As unexpected as some of its plot twists is the fact that this unapologetic genre movie was directed by Spike Lee, who has never sold himself as Mr. Entertainment. But here it is, a Spike Lee joint that's downright fun.

-David AnsenFull Review

I gloried in the sheer spectacle of Jodie Foster as Madeline White, an exquisitely groomed, fearlessly feline fixer striding on her high heels and her high horse into one supposedly perilous situation after another.

-Andrew SarrisFull Review

It's very satisfying.

-Richard RoeperFull Review

Even past the midway point, it's all working -- it's taut, it's funny, it's trenchant, it's stylish. And then it isn't.

-Rick GroenFull Review

Inside Man has an abundance of riches.

-Ruthe SteinFull Review

Inside Man is an exercise in showy, cynical hollowness.

-Geoff PevereFull Review

Exceptionally well written with clever twists and witty dialogue by first-time screenwriter Russell Gewirtz, Inside Man is adroitly executed by director Spike Lee.

-Claudia PuigFull Review

Intercutting post-robbery interrogation scenes with the action at hand, makes Inside Man a substantial and satisfying affair.

-Steven Rea

It's a leisurely stroll through the caper genre, with twists aplenty.

-Roger MooreFull Review

Lee seems less interested in scoring easy sociological points than ratcheting up the stakes of Gewirtz's cunning heist scenario, which offers little in the way of wiggle room for latecomers.

-Jan StuartFull Review

Inside Man is the sort of movie that makes you think. The big star heist thriller is coiled in tricky turns of plot.

-Lisa RoseFull Review

Inside Man, a crackling, twisty thriller about a bank heist that shows he [Spike Lee] can make an expensive, mainstream movie that's every bit as well-crafted as the personal, arty films to which he has devoted most of his career.

-Lou Lumenick

Lee takes the usual potshots at this stewpot of race, power and politics. Only here it's effective as part of the story, as opposed to when it's wielded like a tire iron in the context of a polemic.

-Jami BernardFull Review

Inside Man may be a genre flick, but its direction is certifiably Lee -- sprinkled with trademark themes and visual cues, including his specialty, the strapped-to-a-factory-belt dolly shot.

-Amy BiancolliFull Review

Inside Man brings Lee back into the mainstream while still letting him have some fun, and he passes that fun on to the audience.

-Tom LongFull Review

Inside Man gives us back the stuff that once made Lee's movies entertaining: the snappy, sassy dialogue, the hip attitude, the obvious insight into the racial divide.

-Terry LawsonFull Review

Lee has directed Inside Man, a thriller with a big-league cast, a New York mind-set and some of the best storytelling the director has done to date.

-Robert Denerstein

At just over two hours, Inside Man earns every minute of our tense curiosity.

-Lisa KennedyFull Review

The basic story is elemental, but because Lee and Gewirtz invest it with grit, comedy, and a ton of New York ethnic personality, it's fresh anyway.

-Wesley MorrisFull Review

With Inside Man -- an ostensibly straightforward, old-fashioned heist movie -- Spike Lee brings together the old New York and the new.

-Stephanie ZacharekFull Review

Inside Man is a deft and satisfying entertainment, an elegant, expertly acted puzzler that is just off-base and out-of-the-ordinary enough to keep us consistently involved.

-Kenneth TuranFull Review

The film grabs you from the beginning and never lets go.

-Randy CordovaFull Review

Inside Man marries some ingenious caper ideas to Lee's superb feel for ethnic politics.

-Colin CovertFull Review

Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee, works because it takes a familiar setup a Wall Street bank heist that mutates into a hostage crisis and twists it ever so slightly.

-Manohla Dargis

Here is a thriller that's curiously reluctant to get to the payoff, and when it does, we see why: We can't accept the motive and method of the bank robbery, we can't believe in one character and can't understand another.

-Roger EbertFull Review

This one's a Spike-for-hire affair, a case of a flashy director juicing up a first-time screenwriter's efforts.

-Michael PhillipsFull Review

Inside Man, which was scripted by Russell Gewirtz, is not a model of storytelling, even though it is somewhat redeemed by its fresh take and trick ending.

-Peter RainerFull Review

The normally subversive Spike Lee takes a rare genial tack.

-David EdelsteinFull Review

A deft, tense, pure thriller, the movie has great star turns and is brilliantly directed, but it began as an extremely well-crated screenplay by Russell Gewirtz.

-Stephen HunterFull Review

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