Lord Byron’s line about truth being stranger than fiction is never more accurate than when describing the events on which The Informant! is based. Adapted from Kurt Eichenwald’s book about a notorious case of corporate price fixing, the film is as entertaining as it is incredible.
Central to its success is the performance of Matt Damon as the informant, Mark Whitacre. Sporting a mustache and paunch, Damon transforms himself into the nerdy, neurotic Whitacre, a top executive with the giant Archer Daniels Midland corporation. When Damon asked Steven Soderbergh how he saw Whitacre, the director replied “doughy.” It’s a perfect description for Damon’s portrayal, even down to the shuffling, hunched walk.
That Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns have made a story of corporate crime so amusing is to their credit. They are helped by focusing on Whitacre, a character depicted as being somewhat of a buffoon, prone to delivering non-sequitar asides. It’s hard to imagine they haven’t taken liberties with his personality as, based on this evidence, it’s hard to see how he would ever have achieved such a high-ranking position. But, as becomes evident during the course of the film, Whitacre is not exactly what he appears.
After Whitacre informed his bosses at ADM of a client blackmailing the company, the FBI, in the form of Special Agent Brian Shepherd (Scott Bakula) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale), are brought in. Egged on by his wife (Melanie Lynskey), Whitacre notifies the FBI that ADM are involved a worldwide corn syrup price fixing ring. Carrying a wire, he attends high-powered meetings, compiling hundreds of tapes for the government. But while acting as the FBI’s lynchpin in the case, Whitacre himself comes under scrutiny and it slowly becomes clear that his reliability as a witness is questionable.
The Informant! is more of a character study than a crime thriller. Soderbergh’s directing is unobtrusive as he efficiently tells the story rather than intrudes on it. The film possesses a lightweight tone that, while making for an enjoyable diversion, ultimately leaves you unfulfilled. It’s as though at times he’s almost trying to replicate the mood of the Oceans films, on which he was also teamed with Damon. Whitacre’s eccentricities and delusional reality provide plenty of amusing material, but the story makes little attempt to unearth how he became like that and why he did the things he did. It’s a case of The Informant! being not informed enough.
Kevin Murphy
