The Informant!

The Informant! (2009)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale

Steven Soderbergh’s first comedy since his Ocean’s films, The Informant! tells the story of a business executive, Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), and his consultations with the FBI about Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) price-fixing lysine, a chemical used in livestock. Whitacre is a compulsive liar and wants as much publicity from the situation as possible. The FBI asks him to record meetings of ADM to gain evidence to bring down the business. When the case is cracked, ADM and the FBI unravel Whitacre’s web of lies and try to discover the truth behind it.

The Informant! is based on the true story of Mark Whitacre and his involvement in the mid-1990s lysine price-fixing conspiracy as detailed in Kurt Eichenwald’s novel, The Informant. Matt Damon gives a good performance as Whitacre. It is nice to see Damon doing some more comedies after Ocean’s 13, since he is most known for his dramas and the Bourne series. Damon makes the character likable in the beginning, but as his lies become more common, you begin to grow an annoyance towards him.

The film touches upon various social issues related to the economy and how the big businesses will do anything to get ahead. Whitacre is a loyal executive who just doesn’t believe in doing things illegally, so he contacts the FBI to help save his job from a lie that he created about an informer, which backfired on him. ABM stabs Whitacre in the back to take the blame off of them and distract the lawyers from the original issues. The Informant! tries to remind us how these businesses work, and how they don’t care for their workers or executives. They only care for getting money, whether legal or not.

It may not be as fun as Ocean’s 11, or as clever and witty as Burn After Reading, but The Informant! is a decent spy comedy. It is not one of Soderbergh’s best works, or a genre masterpiece, but it does work in most places and Matt Damon gives a wonderful performance to make this film worth a watch.

Rating: B+


February 27, 2010