The Informant! (2009)

Summary:


The story centers on a guy named Mark Whitaker, an informant employed by the US government in the 1990s to gather information on agricultural giant ADM (it happened in real life!).  Though the investigation is initiated by the FBI to look into allegations of price fixing in the industry, Whitaker’s own machinations come out of the woodwork over the course of the story, eventually causing his elaborately and expensively constructed life to fall to pieces.

The Good:

First of all, no one can claim that the acting was not up to par in this movie.  However, walking into the theater I was skeptical.  All I knew about the movie was gleaned from hearsay which excitedly advertised Matt Damon’s thirty pound weight gain, apparently a guarantee of a great performance.  While I remain unconvinced that Damon’s extra heft lent any additional credibility to his role as Mark Whitaker, I do have to say that I sat through the movie thinking, “Mark Whitaker was a real asshole” and not “Matt Damon is a real asshole for playing this guy.”  So kudos to you, Matt.  I totally believed you were him, which is the whole point of your job. 

Additionally I loved the quirky voice-overs when Whitaker details his random thoughts and daydreams, because random silly bits of character interiority thrown into movies on serious topics make me feel like maybe other people are starting to understand the value of frivolous silliness. 

Performances from Scott Bakula (as the very normal FBI agent Brian Shepard) and Melanie Lynskey (as Whitaker’s dedicated wife Ginger) were excellent as well, both as their own characters and interaction with Damon’s Whitaker.  Have you ever watched a movie where one performance so outshone the others that it made it seem like otherwise good actors were hacks?  (Think The Dark Knight (2008), where Heath Ledger’s performance made Aaron Eckhart’s look like child’s play).  Definitely not the case here.  The whole cast pulled their weight in this film through and through.

The Bad:

Despite the excellent acting by all parties involved, something was definitely off.  I felt as though I wasn’t really being encouraged to identify with any character.  Whitaker is shown to be a confused sociopathic individual who is completely untrustworthy to the extreme.  But we are not asked to take the side of the FBI either.  Nor ADM.  Nor even Whitaker’s wife, a sad figure who may be the one person throughout the piece with clear cut values.  I’m the kind of person who has to be able to emotionally invest in a movie on some level.  If I can’t even find a character where I can think to myself “I know how you feel”, I unfortunately have to file the movie under kind of pointless.  At least for me.

Equally troubling as the just-not-quite-working-ness on the emotional investment side was the blaring and oddly selected musical score.  I think there was supposed to be a point to it, but I think it too missed the mark.  Marvin Hamlisch, composer/writer of the famous musical A Chorus Line wrote it and it definitely shows in terms of style.  I think maybe they were going for satire with the jazzy and at times too loud musical interludes, but to me it was just distracting, and didn’t really work to any specific effect.

On the nitpicky side, I also really did not understand the random 1970s style lettering.  This movie was about events that took place during the 1990s.  What’s with the bizarre font? 

Overall:

My overall impression of this movie was that it had the potential to be really great, but somehow and somewhere missed the mark.  Not so severely, however, that I think it was total crap.  If you like movies with good acting and aren’t up for something that will make you feel a bunch of feelings while you watch it, go for it.  Just be prepared to walk out and say “What’s next?”