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The Informant!
Just a man without a plan
2009
Review: October 6, 2009
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Melanie Lynskey, Joel McHale
Sounds fun, but you don’t need it.
THE SETUP:
Guy becomes FBI informant against his company, but holds many secrets of his own.
DISCUSSION:
From Steven Soderbergh comes this movie that sort of appeared out of the blue and which no one can really give a clear picture of what it’s about. That’s because it starts as one thing and ends up quite another, and it’s hard to discuss the whole thing without giving away spoilers. So if you’re thinking about seeing it—which is recommended—there will be a point here at which you have to skip some spoilers.
For some reason I am still somewhat mystified by, the titles throughout the film and the musical score, by Marvin Hamlisch, are self-consciously in the style of late 60s/early 70s films, even though this true story takes place in the early 1990s. It’s a strange choice, but on some bizarre level it works, and I’m still not entirely clear on why. Is it the level of amused ironic distance the film takes on its character? Is it a reference to the whistleblower films of the 70s? This film is based on a book by a journalist that is a serious account of the events here, but apparently Soderbergh decided that it would be written and presented as a comedy, and you know, it works.
We meet Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre [pronounced Whittaker], a fairly senior manager at this place Archer Daniels Midland, in Decatur, Illinois, in 1992. They try to find ways to put unnecessary corn products in food and products, in order to create greater revenue, as covered in the documentary King Corn, which I have not seen. He’s having a bit of trouble with this virus in the corn that is holding back production of Lysine, and claims that this rival Japanese business has actually infected their corn, and is now demanding extortion money NOT to taint the corn. Whitacre is to handle these negotiations, and to manage the FBI as they listen in. When an FBI man, Scott Bakula as Brian Shepard, comes to visit the Whitacre’s at their home, Mark’s wife Ginger [played by Melanie Lynskey, who was amazing in Heavenly Creatures but had to do time in such things as Coyote Ugly] threatens to tell the FBI about something at Mark’s work, if Mark won’t speak up himself. When she makes to do so, Mark is forced to tell Shepard about a vast global price-fixing conspiracy his company is involved in. After a little bit of hugger-mugger, the FBI asks Whitacre to be an informant, and to wear a wire to record his company in the meetings that fix the prices. Shepard asks Whitacre why he wants to help them, as he seemingly will get nothing out of it, and says “Do you see yourself as wearing a white hat?” that is, being the noble hero who will do the right thing? Whitacre says he does.
Whitacre gets outfitted with a wire, but for quite some time he makes excuses why he can’t wear it to any of the meetings, can’t help the FBI at all, sorry guys, and maybe they should just call it all off. Throughout, we are hearing Whitacre’s voice-over, which is filled with all sorts of ephemera and useless facts and observations. He speaks of Michael Crichton books as though they were the zenith of serious literature, and says thinks like “Avocado? Who would want a texture like that in their mouth?” Eventually the FBI force him to wear the wire to meetings, and at that point Whitacre seems to jump into it. This goes on for a few years, and at one point the FBI decides to outfit him with a new updated wire apparatus. Mark then shows it to the guy who mows his lawn for him, to whom he has already boasted about being an FBI informant—but tells him to keep it secret!
Now there are going to come spoilers, so if you want to see the movie, you should skip down to where it says the spoilers are over, because it’s better not to know where this is going.
SPOILERS > > >
Whitacre records hundreds of meetings, until the FBI finally has a great case against ADM, and is ready to make a raid. They do, and Whitacre soon blabs to all the other partners that he was the informant against them. Then he tells the FBI that he let his secretary knew of the raid months before, so she could prepare. Whitacre sees nothing wrong with any of this, and belligerently protests that his behavior should be questioned at all.
Hmmm, maybe I won’t tell you any more. Things continue to get weirder, with new revelations that make you just shake your head in shock… first that Whitacre could be such a dunderhead, and eventually that something could be so wrong with him. If you like movies that represent little case studies of people that are kind of crazy, this is a good one for you. This film reminded me most of Catch Me If You Can, in part because of all the 60s stylings, in part of the quite amused tone it takes toward its subject’s crimes. And that by the end, you start to think that this person really has a serious problem.
< < < SPOILERS END
So ultimately, quite good, if not necessarily one anyone is going to remember for very long. But it has good performances [I never thought I’d say Scott Bakula could be good after seeing Color of Night], is well-written, funny and interesting, and finally a little bit moving at the end. If you like movies of psychological depth that explore people who are maybe just a little bit—or maybe more than a little bit—off in the head, you should get to it.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Yes, it’s well-made, has good performances, and is interesting.
