THE
GOOD: Mark
Whitacre (Matt Damon) works for ADM, an agricultural company monolith
that is in to price-fixing. At the urging of his wife Ginger (Melanie
Lynskey), Mark becomes whistleblower and tells the FBI all about
ADM’s bad dealings. What appears to be a simple investigation
for FBI Agent Sam Shephard (Scott Bakula) and his team becomes a
muddled and almost farcical affair as they slowly discover that
Mark is actually not telling them the whole truth and he is up to
some bad dealings of his own. The premise of the movie is a good
one, apparently based on a true story, and allows room for some
wonderful performances, starting from the top with Matt Damon who
gives a very three-dimensional, and at times farcical take on Mark
Whitacre who you can never really figure out; is he bi-polar, a
compulsive liar, telling the truth, or some weird combination of
all these things? Every time you think you have it figured out,
the character and the film seem to give you a proverbial sarcastic
wink, suggesting that maybe what you saw was true, but then, maybe
it was not. Matt Damon also gives some wonderful voiceover moments
as Whitacre as we hear the inner ramblings in his head; his thoughts
on polar bears are highly amusing. In this respect, the film can
be fun, particularly in the moments when Whitacre describes his
embezzlements at the company and the dollar figure he quotes in
each subsequent FBI interview keeps going up, and always in an underhanded
way. The film plays out almost like a tragedy for the FBI who discover
they are in way over their heads when their star witness turns out
to be just as bad as the company they are investigating. “The
Informant!” has lots of potential as a film.
THE
BAD:
Unfortunately, there is nothing in this film to recommend it beyond
a post-midnight slot on late night television. The film can be slow,
unengaging and dull for most of its run time, and that is largely
due to the fact that despite the cast’s best efforts, director
Soderbergh does not create any narrative sequences that resonate
either dramatically or comedically, given the situation presented.
“The Informant!” does not make good cinematic viewing.
