When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.
The painting in the background of Arthur Case's office during his last interview is Cézanne's The Card Players. Unsubtle as this is, it's probably this heavy-handed movie's lightest touch.
Despite its leads enthusiastically breathing life into their sub-Sidney Lumet characters, the languid Inside Man offers almost no incisive insights into modern societal discord and provides only scant cops-and-robbers kicks. Perhaps not Lee’s dullest “joint,” it’s nonetheless one of his most sloppily rolled.
— Nick Schager (Slant Magazine)
