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Inside Man was directed by Danny A. Abeckaser, written by Kosta Kondilopoulos, and stars Emile Hirsch, Jake Cannavale, Vincent Laresca, Lucy Hale, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ashley Greene, and Robert Davi. It follows a struggling detective as he goes undercover to gather evidence against the local mob, only to get too close for comfort.

The Plot: Stories like this come around with a degree of regularity, so it’s important to find an angle from which the story can compel, if not enlighten. Inside Man hopes to tie itself to the fall of the Gambino family, but other than that, it’s the same old story.

After detective Bobby Belucci (Hirsch) catches his wife Mary (Greene) cheating, he beats up the guy taking his place, which gets him stuck on desk duty. While sulking at a bar, he runs into Rosenberg (Cannavale), who he saves before finding out his drug-pushing occupation. It’s fine that this is familiar turf, but Kondilopoulos truncates the developments, quickly giving away that Rosenberg works for Roy DeMeo (Abeckaser), who used to work for Gaggi (Davi), a Gambino cappo, at the first available chance, denying natural progression.

Once the movie dumps its exposition, Bobby convinces his captain to give the go ahead and allow him to fall in with Rosenberg and company, including enforcer Anthony (Finley) and barkeep Gina (Hale) at the Gemini Lounge – their hotspot. Instead of modifying the formula, Inside Man pairs Bobby with fellow detective Curtis (Laresca) and sticks them on an elongated sting operation on DeMeo.

While the movie makes reference to other goings on and touches on the idea of multiple subplots, it’s rather cut and dry. It’s understandable that the relaying to Curtis would fall by the wayside, the introductions to Gina – who appears to be a main player – repeated interactions with Mary, and an opportunity to partner with the Colombian cartels to push cocaine alongside Rosenberg slip away from Inside Man, leaving it competent but forgettable.

The Characters: In a very similar manner to how the plot is executed, the characters are fairly bland and cookie cutter. Voice over narration gives some minor detailing, but the lack of time spent getting to know them makes all but Bobby interchangeable.

Bobby has a mean streak behind him, but it’s not related to his job. On the clock, he’s good at keeping rules and procedure in mind, even if he can be hard to calm down once any dots are connected, but when he’s off, anyone who gets in his way is getting hurt. There’s an appreciable weakness to Bobby when talking to Mary that adds shading, if not depth, as it doesn’t add up to much in the end. Regardless, there’s something to him, and Hirsch digs into it very well.

Criminal presences are littered throughout Inside Man, but none of them come across with any specificity. Rosenberg is a loose-lipped, high-functioning druggie that sticks his neck out for his friends; a commonality in these pictures, though at least decently sketched. On the other end are his crew, which consists of two enforcers, a gearhead, and a blank slate, who meet the wise-guy quota but don’t make an impact. Roy, despite being the white whale, just acts like another mob boss from any number of other movies. He’s fine, but the script doesn’t make him into an interesting or storied man.

Other side characters like Curtis, Gina, and Mary don’t add much to the picture aside from giving out more chances to observe how Bobby acts towards them. This works in the way it’s supposed to for Bobby, but there’s no reciprocity for any of the others. He comes out as a well-rounded lead, but no one else stacks up to him.

The Thrills: With the understanding that Inside Man doesn’t have many new ideas, it can still be a moderately exciting sit. Scenes from other, iconic movies are aped rather shamelessly, but the result works agreeably.

By the nature of the premise, the film’s suspense factor is split into two main halves, one being Bobby’s omnipresent fear of being caught with the wire he wears throughout the majority of the movie. This aspect is decently handled, as Abeckaser and Kondilopoulos remember to call attention to it as needed. Because of the food chain established in the early scenes, the wire is always a risk, as Bobby starts dressing for the part he’s playing both to impress the bosses like DeMeo and Gaggi, and to blend in. This means a lot of fitted clothing and tank tops during a lot of verbal tests.

On the flipside, there’s the tasks placed on Bobby and his transition from reluctance to apathy. There’s a rush that comes with watching the known hothead getting the chance to cut loose (in a way) by boosting cars and collecting debts, giving him the opportunity to mog without fear of consequence, but it doesn’t last as he rises through the ranks. Once the movie reaches its more familiar moments like driving for DeMeo and dumping bodies in cars, Inside Man begins coasting on them and never stops.

Certain singularities like “The Gemini Method” and a minor character played by James Russo are interesting to see, and add texture to the movie, but ultimately there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better, or worse.

The Technics: It can’t match the scale of the classics, but Inside Man has its fair share of prowess despite its budget. However, that doesn’t cover for the back end, which has its bumps.

Visually, the result of the crew’s work is admirable. The overall production design doesn’t exactly scream 1983, but the technology, cars, and blocking do. Even with a rather limited scope, cinematographer Bryan Koss captures the mood of an early 80s metropolis via a desaturated color palette, smoky ambience, and a tendency to linger on the authentic lounge interior.

Post-production elements are hit or miss, as the movie moves at a quick pace, presumably due to its awareness of the subject’s familiarity, but some re-editing would’ve been a good idea. Some important moments are over before they get to set in, and sometimes extraneous ones stick around after they’ve made their points. Instead of keeping those scenes, the money should’ve gone to filming segments that would’ve shown the details of the narration, instead of having a voice over from Bobby that too closely echoes Goodfellas.

Inside Man is a well-acted and somewhat thrilling movie, but it just doesn’t have anything inside its runtime that makes it stand out its peers, positively or negatively. It’s decent, but inessential.

57/100