The Informant!

– Three and a half stars (out of four)
– Rated R for language.
– Who’s going to like it: people who enjoy intelligent, witty, complex and thought-provoking satirical comedies.

Damon plays a perfect absent-minded whistle blower

Director Steven Soderbergh is a hit-and-miss filmmaker. His critically acclaimed award-winning films Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Traffic and Erin Brockovich are eclipsed by the bad ones – such as Bubble, The Good German and Solaris. Not only is he hit-and-miss with his stand-alone films, but even within his own series’. Ocean’s Eleven was fun and exciting. Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen were awful. Che: Part One beautifully tells the interesting first half of the life of revolutionary guerrilla Che Guevarra. Che: Part Two painfully explains Guevarra’s ill-fated ending. But Soderbergh’s latest film The Informant! irrevocably redeems him from all past sins.

The Informant! tells the painfully true story of Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) – a corporate biochemist blowing the proverbial whistle on several international price-fixing corn corporations during the mid ’90s. With the help and direction of two FBI agents (played by Quantum Leap‘s Scott Bakula and The Soup‘s Joel McHale), Whitacre successfully obtains the evidence needed through undercover operations, but at the same time lets the FBI down by his relentlessly moronic, un-thoughout actions. The less you know about this true story, the better the movie will be for you.

Considering that the Academy is now making ten nominees for the major awards, you can expect to see The Informant! receive a Best Picture nomination. Just as the film deserves the Best Picture nomination, so does Matt Damon for Best Actor. For those used to seeing Damon in the Bourne movies, The Informant! proves Damon has even got the chops for comedy. The random first-person rants from Whitacre’s wandering mind will crack you up throughout the film; I can’t imagine anyone else doing the Whitacre role as well as Damon does.

Considering the wide spectrum of films opening this weekend, The Informant! is the one made for the adults looking for good, smart entertainment. The Informant! is an intriguing not-very-well-known story that’s well-worth knowing and seeing.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.