REVIEW: The Informant! (2009) 4.5 STARS
The Informant!
Rated: R
Runtime: 108 minutes
Starring: Matt Damon
My rating: 4.5 stars
—
—
It is difficult to review a movie like The Informant!. It's brilliantly constructed, amazingly written and Matt Damon, against all odds, is believable as a dorky financier at a corn chemical company.
Damon plays Mark Whitacre, who works for Fortune 500 company ADM. Whitacre approaches the FBI and confesses that ADM and other international companies routinely met to fix prices for corn supplements. It affected nearly every food product in the world and companies like ADM made hundreds of millions of dollars.
But why did he do it? Why would an executive, who was making $350,000 annually, rat out his bosses and competitors to the FBI? That's the fun of the movie and I would love to explain it to you, but I can't. You'll just have to go see.
The story is so involved, yet so perfect, that we're confused at first and awed at the ending. It's a fantastic time at the movies.
Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's 11-13) directed this comedic conman mystery thriller. He pulls from The Inside Man and Catch Me If You Can to create a film that tells a complex story in a way that doesn't bore the audience and actually make finance seem somewhat interesting, especially when the film is talking about millions of dollars.
And, to top it off, it's all true. Look it up. Whitacre is a man who can't get out of his own way. A fellow character says of Whitacre's PHD, “for him it means Piled Higher and Deeper.” He ain't kiddin'.
Whitacre talks to FBI and is asked to wear a wire during these meetings with competitors where price fixing is discussed. He's told not to talk to the other side or let on that there's a fix in. He doesn't listen, playing both sides, but seemingly not getting anything out of it. And what is he getting? He lives a modest life with a small family. The only extravagant thing he owns is a Porsche.
This confuses the FBI and ADM as they try to figure out Whitacre's agenda. No one just comes to the FBI and rats out their employers, especially someone compensated as well as Whitacre. And no one returns from the FBI and tells ADM. It all doesn't make sense.
As the pieces to this puzzle fall into place, the audience is delighted, surprised and laughs at all of Whitacre's follies. He's a genius, he's a menace, he's sad, he's pathetic, and we still just feel sorry for the guy.
That's how he gets you. That's how he got the FBI, and that's how he got what he wanted when it was all said and done. He does wear the white hat, after all. Or so he thinks. 4.5 stars.
—
Follow me on Netflix and see what I'm watching, rating and exclusive lists of personal favorites. Just click "Save to Faves."
—
Where it's playing:
Canton/PotsdamSHOWTIMES
Watertown SHOWTIMES
