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Amazon.co.uk Review
Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, like the director's one-two Oscar® punch Erin Brockovich and Traffic, is an energetic exposé of corporate/criminal chicanery with wide-ranging implications for life in these United States. Not so much like those movies, it plays as hyper-caffeinated comedy. At its center is Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), a biochemist and junior executive at agri-giant Archer Daniels Midland who, in 1992, began feeding the FBI evidence of ADM's involvement in price fixing. Mark's motive for doing so is elusive, sometimes self-contradictory, and subject to mutation at any moment. To describe him as bipolar would be akin to finding the Marx Brothers somewhat zany. His Fed handlers, along with the audience, start thinking of him as a hapless goofball. Then they and we get blind-sided with the revelation of further dimensions of Mark's life at ADM, and the nature of the investigation, and the movie, changes. That will happen again. And again. It's Soderbergh's ingenious strategy to make us fellow travelers on Mark's crazy ride, virtually infecting us with a short-term version of his dysfunctional being. Props to screenwriter Scott Z. Burns for boiling down Kurt Eichenwald's 600-page book The Informant: A True Story without sacrificing coherence. And Matt Damon, bulked up by two stones and spluttering his manic lines from under a caterpillar mustache, reconfirms his virtuosity and his willingness to dive deep into such a dodgy personality. On the downside, despite a small army of comedians in cameo roles, The Informant! has nothing like the rich field of subsidiary characters encountered in Erin Brockovich and Traffic. That lack of vibrancy is aggravated by the dominance of prairie-flat Midwest speech patterns and cadences (most of the film unreels in Illinois), and the razzmatazz score by veteran tunesmith Marvin Hamlisch sounds like pep-rally music on an industrial film. Soderbergh also photographed the movie (under his pseudonym Peter Andrews), and his decision to show everything through a corn-mush filter turns it into a big-screen YouTube experience. --Richard T. Jameson
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Mark Whitacre is a high ranking executive at ADM, a corporation specialising in cereal and grain processing.
When ADM's 'Lysine' production repeatedly fails to meet production targets Whitacre is put under pressure to fix the problem. He lies to his bosses that the Lysine plant has been infected with a virus which is causing the Lysine producing bacteria to die, and claims a rival from a Japanese company is demanding $10 million to provide both a cure and reveal the ADM employee who is secretly working for a rival. When ADM call in the FBI on the grounds of corporate blackmail, Whitacre then backtracks on his industrial extortion story and reveals to the FBI that ADM is involved with other corporations in a massive price fixing scandal. And when the FBI ask him to go undercover to provide evidence the lies become bigger and bigger.
While it's not a bad film 'The Informant!' is fairly disappointing. Matt Damon does a good job as Whitacre and there are some amusing moments, but story wise it's just not that thrilling. It's a typical tale of a habitual liar who's lies eventually catch up with him. If you're looking for a film with a similar storyline try Billy Ray's 'Shattered Glass' and 'Breach', and Lasse Hallstrom's 'The Hoax', all of which are far more absorbing and thrilling tales of lies and deceit.
When ADM's 'Lysine' production repeatedly fails to meet production targets Whitacre is put under pressure to fix the problem. He lies to his bosses that the Lysine plant has been infected with a virus which is causing the Lysine producing bacteria to die, and claims a rival from a Japanese company is demanding $10 million to provide both a cure and reveal the ADM employee who is secretly working for a rival. When ADM call in the FBI on the grounds of corporate blackmail, Whitacre then backtracks on his industrial extortion story and reveals to the FBI that ADM is involved with other corporations in a massive price fixing scandal. And when the FBI ask him to go undercover to provide evidence the lies become bigger and bigger.
While it's not a bad film 'The Informant!' is fairly disappointing. Matt Damon does a good job as Whitacre and there are some amusing moments, but story wise it's just not that thrilling. It's a typical tale of a habitual liar who's lies eventually catch up with him. If you're looking for a film with a similar storyline try Billy Ray's 'Shattered Glass' and 'Breach', and Lasse Hallstrom's 'The Hoax', all of which are far more absorbing and thrilling tales of lies and deceit.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
...This film is so boring. I mean, what good is a "great performance", if you don't care about the character or the story.
It's... Honestly, this film is a waste of your time on Earth.
It's... Honestly, this film is a waste of your time on Earth.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I hovered over this film for some time before watching it.
Sure I'd read very good reviews about Matt Damons peformance and they were right he creates a very convincing character.
Unfortunately I found neither the character or story interesting. Just a man who lied and then kept on lying, little humour or intrigue. It was a struggle to watch it to the end.
For me this was the weakest film I've seen Damon in yet.
Sure I'd read very good reviews about Matt Damons peformance and they were right he creates a very convincing character.
Unfortunately I found neither the character or story interesting. Just a man who lied and then kept on lying, little humour or intrigue. It was a struggle to watch it to the end.
For me this was the weakest film I've seen Damon in yet.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Bear with it...
I've never seen a movie that has polarised opinion in the reviewing fields quite as much as the THE INFORMANT! Read more
Published 11 days ago by Dr Gonzo
A very mediocre film with a confused identity
To look at the package (brand-identity) for this film you could well be forgiven for thinking it has mixed echoes of various generations past, a fair mélange of design... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Andrew W
A great book that doesnt translate into the movie
I picked up the book recently when looking for something to read. What a great read and a great story, the main character Mark Whitacre is a complete outlier. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Michael J. Vella
Interesting idea poorly realised
The idea of a comedy about a compulsive liar working as a corporate whistleblower for the FBI sounds very promising to me. Read more
Published 14 months ago by BS on parade
I Enjoy Putting it on From Time to Time
Okay, this film bugs some people. The soundtrack is wacky; it sounds more like some family film from the 1950's. Read more
Published 15 months ago by C. Pendlebury
your problem amozon, not mine
Im only writing this because I couldnt simply add my rating. so here it is: I didnt really find myself getting involved in the film and I didnt find the scenarios very interesting;... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. J. Forsyth
Spying a winner
I bought this on an impulse because lately, I've struggled to enjoy Movies or Films of late, due mostly to the fact that the story lines are weak, poor acting and other various... Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. J. Anderson
Informative
This is a great film, its not supposed to be a rip roaring laugh out loud comedy so if thats what you are or were expecting then you will be disappointed. Read more
Published 19 months ago by C. J. P
A tad disappointing
There is no doubt that Soderbergh is a first class director, but I think he didn't get this offering quite right. Read more
Published on 21 May 2010 by Jones the Film
One of the worst films I've ever seen
This film is absolutely appaling on every level.
It is not funny, despite how the trailers make it look (I thought it was going to be a comedy). Read more
It is not funny, despite how the trailers make it look (I thought it was going to be a comedy). Read more
Published on 18 May 2010 by Mr. Steven W. Downey
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