The Informant! (Warner Bros.)
Rated R for language.
Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey, Thomas F. Wilson, Ann Cusack, Allan Havey, Scott Adsit, Eddie Jemison, Clancy Brown, Tony Hale, Andrew Daly.
Written by Scott Z. Burns.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
GRADE: A-
REVIEWThe 90s may not be a decade of great distinction, but there was enough scandal and corporate corruption to make it at least interesting. Some scandals were so uneventful they were barely covered by the quickly-evolving media. One of the stories that flew under the radar was the price-fixing scandal involving lysine, a food additive developed by only a few companies in the world. One of those companies is Archer Daniels Midland based in Decatur, Illinois. The story of how one man helped bring ADM to justice is the basis for
The Informant!, Steven Soderbergh's dark, quirky comedy starring Matt Damon.
Damon plays the real-life Mark Whitacre, a chemical Ph.d and rising star at ADM in the early 90s. Despite making a comfortable living as an ADM exec, Whitacre decides to rat out the company for conspiring to fix lycine prices around the globe.
Whitacre agrees to work with FBI agents as an informant, and soon becomes enamored by all the cloak-and-dagger ambiance of the spy lifestyle. He even names himself "Agent 00-14," because in his mind, he is twice as clever as James Bond. Along with his twisted flights of grandeur of his own spy persona, Whitacre is also a pathological liar and suffers from bipolar disorder.
As Whitacre darts around the globe helping build the FBI case against his bosses, he conveniently leaves out the fact that he's pretty crooked himself, having embezzled $5, or $7, or $9.5 million from ADM, depending on which deflated figure he shares with the feds once they find out about his crimes.
As the case against ADM proceeds, Whitacre's dirty deeds against the company are revealed until he is faced with his own prosecution. Even then, Whitacre has trouble coming to terms with reality, and spirals further into the consequences of his own lies.
The Informant! is a clever comedy, similar to other Soderbergh films like
Oceans 11,12, and
13. One of the more clever devices in the movie is the running inner-dialogue narration provided by Damon as the film the progresses. These inner thoughts usually have nothing to do with the story, but effectively demonstrate how twisted Whitacre must have been to think he could steal so much money while pretending to be a super spy.
Another aspect that serves to compliment
The Informant! is Marvin Hamlisch's cheesy score. It's almost like elevator music mixed with James Bond themes, and its presence is almost like another character in the movie.
Speaking of characters, there are plenty of them in
The Informant! including Melanie Lynsky as Whitacre's wife Ginger (you may know her the stalker neighbor on
TV's Two and a Half Men) and Thomas Wilson as an ADM exec assigned to keep an eye on Whitacre. In case the name doesn't ring a bell, Wilson's only other claim to fame was playing Marty McFLy's arch enemy Biff Tannen in the
Back to the Future series. Other notable performances include Scott Bakula as an FBI agent, and Ann Cusack as an FBI superior.
The biggest treat in
The Informant! is Damon's performance as a delusional super nerd. I hope he gets an Oscar nomination, but I suspect he will be overlooked in favor of other more dramatic performances. The Informant! is pure Soderburgh with all his heavy cinematic ambiance, but I don't mind. Never has a story about a food additive been so delicious.
