The Informant! (2009)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers (WGA):

Scott Z. Burns (screenplay)
Kurt Eichenwald (book)

Release Date:

18 September 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Based on a tattle-tale

Plot:

The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre.

Plot Keywords:

Pathological Liar | Punctuation In Title | Exclamation Point In Title | Based On Novel

US Showtimes:

Culver Plaza Theatres

12:20pm | 5:20

(personalize)

Cast

Matt Damon	...	Mark Whitacre
Lucas McHugh Carroll	...	Alexander Whitacre (as Lucas Carroll)
Eddie Jemison	...	Kirk Schmidt
Rusty Schwimmer	...	Liz Taylor
Craig Ricci Shaynak	...	Discouraged Foreman
Tom Papa	...	Mick Andreas
Rick Overton	...	Terry Wilson
Melanie Lynskey	...	Ginger Whitacre
Thomas F. Wilson	...	Mark Cheviron (as Tom Wilson)
Scott Bakula	...	FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard
Scott Adsit	...	Sid Hulse
Ann Dowd	...	FBI Special Agent Kate Medford
Allan Havey	...	FBI Special Agent Dean Paisley
Howie Johnson	...	Rusty Williams
Joel McHale	...	FBI Special Agent Bob Herndon

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44918) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-3 | Italy:T | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:7 | Canada:G (Québec) | Australia:M | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Japan:G | Portugal:M/12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:AL | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Blue Mound, Illinois, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This story was the subject of the 9-15-2000 episode (#168) of This American Life entitled "The Fix is In."

Goofs:

Continuity: When Whitacre first goes in yelling at his boss, his bosses pen appears and disappears between shots.

Quotes:

Mark Whitacre: Polar bears cover their noses before they pounce on a seal. How do polar bears know their noses are black? Did they look in the water one day, see their reflection and say, "Man, I'd be invisible if it wasn't for that thing."

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Late Show with David Letterman: (#17.8)" (2009)

Flawed, but with Merit

Steven Soderbergh consistently makes interesting films even if some of them aren't complete successes. The Informant! attests to that. The best thing about the film is Matt Damon's performance. Damon is able to portray Whitacre as a self-obsessed buffoon while still maintaining some believability. It's a difficult tightrope to walk but he does it well. The film as a whole, however, has issues. The main one being that the film never establishes a proper tone. On one level, it's a wacky comedy with a wacky score about a wacky guy doing wacky things. At the same time, it's a corporate thriller about price fixing and embezzlement. Unlike Damon, it has trouble in walking its tightrope. With that said, I still liked the film. It's satire of the selfishness, thoughtlessness, and flat-out stupidity of a certain type of American capitalist is very funny and, unfortunately, accurate. The level of professionalism in this film is also a notch or two above most Hollywood productions. The film has strong cinematography as offices have never looked more fittingly bland or yellow. Soderbergh also demonstrates why he's gained his strong reputation as a filmmaker by having impeccable camera placement. These many virtues make The Informant! an intriguing and satisfying film even though it does have some notable issues.