THE INFORMANT! (includes trailer)
September 12th 2010 13:45
A film by Steven Soderbergh
The Informant! starring Matt Damon (The Departed, The Bourne Identity, Oceans 11), is a delicious 2009 satire on American corporate business, amazingly enough based on a true story as well. The Informant! seems so comedic and cheeky at times that it’s hard to believe what might truly be straight facts and what could have been embellished, especially considering that it’s the story of one of the most unbelievably pathological liars ever heard of.
Beginning in 1992, Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is vice president of food manufacturing corporate giant ADM . Mark has a son and wife, played by Melanie Lynskie (Heavenly Creatures, Detroit Rock City, Up In The Air). While Mark is clearly successful he is also narcissistic, with a stupefying sense of self importance, as he drowns in his own analytical thoughts each second of the day, which we hear in a constantly streaming voice over.
Mark one day informs the CEO of ADM that a client intending to commit industrial sabotage is trying to black mail the company for $10,000,000. When ADM gets the FBI involved in an investigation headed by agent Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula from TV’s Quantum Leap) Whitacre begins to inform the FBI that ADM are illegally fixing the price of food additives. So begins that investigation, but Mark keeps blowing the whistle on everyone around him, tattle tailing out one crime and conspiracy after the next. Where things start getting fun is when you begin wondering what are lies from this man’s mouth and what aren’t. What is Mark’s real agenda?
Directed by Steven Soderbergh (The Limey, Oceans 11, Traffic), who continues his balancing act of commercial projects with more left of centre ones, has found a unique balance here, taking a back seat to Damon’s surprisingly dazzling comic performance. Having always had a luke warm opinion of Damon’s abilities, it was a joy to find him in a roles that he fits so well with. Matt Damon portrays an impish opportunist, absorbing himself entirely in the role, and always with a sly wink. In the past he’s hinted at comical talent and in The Informant! Damon brings a layered, subtle comic charm that carries this film through out, adding dimension of ambiguity as well as low-key hilarity.
Those expecting a laugh out loud comedy maybe disappointed, as The Informant! is more interested in asking questions about who this obsessively compulsive, alienated, self absorbed man really is. What was his motivation and how is it that this man conned the entire country and for so long too. One tall tale snowballs out of control, one after the other. Is Mark Whitacre the sad clown, the ultimate con artist that has everyone eating out of his hands or is he just a pathetic chump – we can never quite figure him out. Damon is a revelation to watch pull this all off, it’s been a while since I’ve seen an actor have this much fun with a role and Damon really does relish his every line.
The comedy is sly and subtle, and most of the humour comes out of your own small observations of Whitacre’s behaviour. You scratch your head at Whitactre’s motivations and secret sense of superiority, there’s a frustratingly backward logic to everything he does. The majority of the humour amuses silently and rarely leads to gut busting laughs. Director Steven Soderbergh demonstrates a restraint here, shooting the film formally and playing it safe, establishing a man stuck in his own head, absorbed in the world of big businesses.
It’s not the most interesting Soderbergh film to watch in comparison to some of his others and Soderbergh’s saturated cinematography (which he shoots under the alias of Peter Andrews) seems out of place here despite it’s skilfulness. This makes for a flawed film, but never the less a most entertaining as well as intelligent one. Soderbergh allows for all the facts to lead us astray as the story unfolds in a dryly humorous way. At the end of The Informant! it’s clearly Damon carrying the film, bringing out the most of this film’s sneaky manipulations and farcical humour.
The Informant! is an aloof comedy of underhanded proportions, so filled with tragi-comedy that it leaves you feeling uncertain over it’s anti-hero by it’s end (despite our moral objections we can’t wait to hear what will come out of his mouth next). The excellent script by Scott Burns is constantly engaging and endlessly mischievous, with a multi-layered story that fascinates with it’s main character’s conflicting points of view. Mainly it’s a great vehicle for Matt Damon to really knock one out the comedy park in a film which doesn’t put a lot of attention into anything except for it’s main character.
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Comment by Deni
Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
How's Marvin Hamlisch's score for this?
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
David - the score is very Woody Allen-esque actually, it's out of date nostalgia doesn't entirely fit with the rest of the film's tone. Thanks for the praise - it's always valued when coming from you. This is a very enjoyable film and my favorite out of his recent works.
Havn't seen catch me if you can - I'm not crazy about Spielberg films aside from Empire Of The Sun, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and A Close Encounter Of The Third kind, I'd be content if I never saw any of his films again - however - I have had my eye on wanting to see 'Catch Me If You Can' more for Leo than anything else...
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
I'm not sure what divides people about this film....
anyway - thanks for reading
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Totally agree with your review, the script is bold and confident, sometimes only using a miniscule thread to propel it forward.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure