The Informant!

(2009)

Directed by

Steven Soderbergh

Review by Todd Plucknett

Posted - 9/30/09

Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh is one of the most interesting filmmakers working in the industry. Every time he comes out with a movie, it is always a wonder to see what genre and tone he is going to take on next. His latest effort, The Informant!, is a dark comedy that causes the audience to get lost in its quirky characters and complex story. It is something that Soderbergh has never taken on before, and it is one of his best films of the decade and one of the best films of the year.

The Informant! revolves around Mark Whitacre (Oscar-winner Matt Damon), a high-ranking executive at ADM, a highly-successful lysine-developing company. He spends all his time at the company or on business trips, getting completely immersed in the company’s web of deceit and fraud. Little did he know that he would get forced into being an informant for the FBI, investigating the information that Whitacre offered to the Bureau about a price fixing conspiracy in the industry. Everything that Whitacre knows and has worked for suddenly comes to a head, and as the lies start piling up, his own credibility becomes compromised.

This movie is anchored by Matt Damon. One of the reasons why he is one of the 5 best actors of his generation is because he never overacts. Even the emotional scenes in Good Will Hunting were treated with great vulnerability by Damon, rather than exaggeration. He also has absolutely mastered subtlety in acting, as shown by his completely understated turn in the brilliant The Good Shepherd. This is something Damon has never done before. Perhaps Linus is the closest he has come to Mark Whitacre. He could have easily played it goofy, but instead he played it straight and seriously. He was able to create empathy for his character, someone that does everything to push us away. Damon is simply brilliant in this, a performance that should definitely take him at least to the Golden Globes. There are also a couple fine supporting turns by the great Melanie Lynskey and Scott Bakula.

By no means is this an actor showcase, though. It is much more about the story and humor. It is something that, if handled by a less creative director, could have just been a rehash of The Insider. Instead, the master Soderbergh creates one of the most dryly hilarious and complex films of the year. Whitacre is such a fascinating character. He never gives too much away. You never know exactly what he is thinking, except for the Boiler Room-esque narration which reveals what a true tool this guy actually is. But all of that is really authentic. At those times exactly when some awesome randomness comes out of Whitacre’s head is when a normal person would have started daydreaming and thinking about something totally out there. It is just a superbly well-toned and nuanced screenplay by The Bourne Ultimatum screenwriter Scott Z. Burns.

This film is a prime example why Soderbergh is one of the greatest filmmakers working today. He first burst onto the scene with the indie masterpiece sex, lies and videotape, a style that he since revisited with the underseen Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience. He has created the massively successful Ocean’s trilogy. Then there is the noir classic Out of Sight and his best film Traffic. None of these films resemble each other at all, except for the energy and passion that is in every one of them. Now The Informant! comes along, a film with an Alexander Payne-type of humor, something that he has not come near before. Still, somehow Soderbergh’s mark was on the film. It was not the tone. It was not the subject matter. It was not the genre. It was a distinct attention to detail and subtlety. This is a well-worthy addition to his already astonishing filmography.

I hope that The Informant! finds a wide audience. Its marketing has been somewhat odd, making it seem like a laugh-out-loud comedy, but the film really is a dark humor in the tradition of Office Space, yet not as obvious. There is something that everyone will find funny in this brilliant little film. Even if they don’t, it is almost impossible to not get caught up in the story, the lead character, and energy that makes the film feel a bit like Catch Me If You Can. It had such a small window for success, which was a big risk for Soderbergh and everyone else involved. And nobody is more proud than me when I say that it paid off. Huge.

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