Movie Summary of The Informant by Michael the Moviegoer.
THE INFORMANT = ***1/2
“The Talented Mr. Damon”
In “The Informant”, Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a corporate whistle blower who teams with the FBI to expose global price-fixing for an ingredient used to create high fructose corn syrup. If it weren’t a true story, that plot would never get made into a movie.
It happened in the 90s, but director Steven Soderbergh has fun with fonts and music invoking the 70s, even bringing in Marvin Hamlisch to compose his first film score in more than a decade. That score helps give this film its comic tone. It’s a real testament to how background music can enhance and even change the mood of a piece. It’s a score that deserves an Oscar nomination because, without it, “The Informant” would be a different movie.
Matt Damon successfully tackles his most complex role since “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with a schizophrenic duel of personalities. It’s always fun to watch Damon at work here despite having so many technical facts thrown at us that it’s not always easy to understand the crime being investigated. It’s a case of too much information. But Soderbergh tries, as he did in “Erin Brockovich”, to help us understand as much of the case facts as possible.
Can someone tell me how in the world “The Informant” got an ‘R’ rating? A personal note to the MPAA: Shame on you.
DVD Double Feature: In 1999, Russell Crowe played informant Jeffrey Wigand in the true story of a corporate whistle blower going on TV’s “60 Minutes” news program to expose a conspiracy in the tobacco industry. Nominated for Best Picture, “The Insider” is a taut thriller, the kind “The Informant” might have been with different music.
Michael The Moviegoer
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