Had mostly forgotten this one but it’s so thrilling, and it’s basically a movie built on phone calls and conversations. Made me think back to my recent viewings of Michael Clayton and Erin Brockovich.
Russell Crowe was really on a heater in this moment—from ‘97 to ‘03 he made L.A. Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator, and Master and Commander. And Al Pacino gets to dance with both Crowe and Christopher Plummer?
This film really made me sad thinking about how the reach, influence, and authority of the press has rapidly eroded since this movie came out. When Pacino’s Bergman says “What got broken here doesn’t go back together.”—I really felt that.
(Watched as part of Criterion’s 1999 collection.)