The Informant!: Review By JT's Movie Page

THE INFORMANT REVIEW

By J.T. Johnson

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Tom Wilson, Joel McHale, Mike O’Malley, Andrew Daly, Adam Paul, Melanie Lynskey, Rick Overton, Tom Papa, Candy Clark

Director Steven Soderbergh reunites with one of his Ocean Eleven co-stars Matt Damon for a new dramedy that tells the unbelievable true story of one of the country’s biggest whistleblowers.

The film follows Mark Whitacre (Damon) who rising quickly through the ranks at Archer Daniels Midland (AMD.) One night, Whitacre decides to open up to FBI agent Brian Shepard (Bakula) in which he reveals a massive conspiracy to raise the prices of the animal feed additive lysine.

Whitacre then decides to go undercover by taping the company’s activities around the globe. The FBI thinks that they have a solid case until they begin to find that Whitacre himself is involved in his own plans to defraud the company. Soon, the FBI does not know what to believe and Whitacre suddenly becomes the target of the investigation.

One of the high points of the film is Damon as the executive turned whistleblower. When an audience is watching Damon play Whitacre, they are completely convinced that he is Whitacre and not the actor from “The Bourne Identity” or the actor in “Good Will Hunting.” It was refreshing to see that Damon did not fall into the trap of making Whitacre into a hero for the modern man with someone who is trying to take down the big corporations. Whitacre has many flaws and Damon makes no excuses in his performance.

Instead, Damon portrays Whitacre as a man who is not so squeaky clean himself. He is a human being that some people may come to hate and even consider a hypocrite. While the truth behind the lies that Whitacre tells are revealed in subtle and often humorous ways, at the same time, it is serious enough to not let the audience forget that Whitacre is also not innocent in the affairs at hand.

Another actor of note in the film is Scott Bakula as FBI agent Brian Shepard. While Bakula is not as interesting to watch as Damon is, Bakula does a great job by playing Shepard as a man that feels sorry for Whitacre. Shepard is even the one that explains to his co-workers that Whitacre is basically going in there alone and is concerned how Whitacre will handle the situation when the operation is revealed to the public. Bakula does his job at convincing the audience that Shepard truly cares for Whitacre’s well-being.

However, as the film progresses and Whitacre’s own crimes and lies are revealed, Bakula slowly changes Shepard into a man who is getting more and more frustrated with Whitacre as the lies continue and Shepard himself becomes a target. Instead of portraying Shepard as a man who is angry with Whitacre, Bakula plays Shepard as a man who was deeply hurt and could not bring himself to understand why Whitacre was consistently lying to everyone.

Some of the best moments in the film come from the narration scattered throughout screenwriter Scott Z. Burns’ script. As Whitacre tells the audience what is going on throughout the film, his narrations sometimes evolve into inane yet funny trivia or personal thoughts that have absolutely no meaning to the rest of the story.

Instead of just being used as a device to move along the plot, the narration helps the audience get inside Whitacre’s head and it also reveals his perception of the events around him.

The only real problem with the film’s writing is when it tries to cover exactly what it is that AMD is doing wrong. It contains plenty of legal talk about the conspiracy that can sometimes be a bit confusing. But that is okay because this is a film that decides to focus more on the personal journey of Whitacre rather than the details of the conspiracy he helped bring down.

This more personal look at the whistleblower rather than what he did was refreshing and there are enough humorous moments to keep the film from taking itself too seriously. With a solid script and wonderful performances by Damon and Bakula, “The Informant” is definitely worth seeing.

4 / 5 Stars – Very Good