The Informant!: BD Review
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Page 1 of 3 Warner / 108 Minutes / 2009 / Rated R / Street Date: February 23, 2010
Director Steven Soderbergh states very plainly in his commentary track on this Informant! Blu-ray Disc that he didn't want this film to turn into The Insider, and that's an understandable take: Why make a film that looks and sounds exactly like another that came before? Yet while it's not difficult at all to applaud Soderbergh's decision to do a biopic of a distinctly bizarr-o fashion, The Informant! ends up being intriguing in concept alone - much like the majority of the director's output over the last few years. What's equally intriguing and frustrating about Soderbergh is that he really doesn't seem to give a shit about what kinds of films he makes. Six-hour films about Che Guevara? Sure, why not? Digital movies about reticent ladies who work at a doll factory? Sounds great! Sure, the guy has an Oscar on his mantle, but if there's anything refreshing about Soderbergh's work, it's that you never know exactly what you're going to get. And this goofy, Peter Sellers-ish 70s-cinema take on a 1990s FBI case is...well, I never knew what was coming. That's for sure.
In The Informant!, Matt Damon (who gained thirty pounds for the part) plays Mark Whitacre, a businessman who decides to fleece the agricultural conglomerate he works for all it's worth. Giving his wife and kids a regal life, filling his garage with sports car after sports car - he's just out to have a good time. But then he decides to think outside the box: In an attempt to keep the company from even thinking about lopping off Mark's department, he decides to tell a little white lie and say the company's being blackmailed. The FBI comes in, etc., etc., and the you-know-what hits the fan. At the end of the day, though, The Informant! is more of an experiment than a legitimate film. Damon does a great job, but Soderbergh's tone in the film is so hard to pin down that most of the actor's nuance gets underscored. He's got the chops, for sure, but Soderbergh seems more interested in subverting said thespian prowess than showcasing it. So, yes - The Informant! is not The Insider. It's light, weird, oddly funny and has a question-mark of a voiceover: It's nice that Soderbergh is not making standard-grade major Hollywood fare, I suppose, but it goes without saying that I wish those films were better than this. |
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