Inside Huh?

I was excited to see the new heist movie Inside Man. I like heist movies. I like a good puzzle that outsmarts me. I like a stylish, fun morality play that studio heist movies generally provide. For all these reasons, I didn't like Inside Man. Instead of a "Rah!" at the end of the film, I was left with an annoyed "Huh?" Save your money. The cleverness in this film is an inside joke between the producers and the studio p.r. machine.

Huh? So, what happened to the Nazi papers? Huh? How come the Nazi guy never spent the diamonds? On what did he build his fortune? Huh? Why tell the mayor about the warcrimes council at the end? Huh? What exactly kind of person was the Jodie Foster character? Huh? So, crime does pay if you rob bad guys?

The movie was all clever set-up but then didn't have the clever pay-offs to match. So, the audience never gets the warm rush of satisfaction. We sat there through the credits waiting for another ending to the film, because there was so much left unresolved by the movie's end. And using the holocaust as the plot lynchpin was cheap. The suggestion is that there is no injustice that could be perpetrated against anyone who collaborated with the Nazis. This, of course, is faulty logic which messes with the morality play aspect of the story.

We are seeing more and more of this "Criminal as Hero" story from the entertainment industry these days. It is the whiff of anarchy.

The language in the film is also way f*ckin' coarse, if you know what I mean. I rate Inside Man gratuitous and sloppy.

Pass.