Warning: Very minor spoilers for The Informant!
I imagine it’s a lesser feat to concoct an M. Night Shyamalan-style script. Get a central conceit, form a twist, reverse-engineer a story — bing bang boom. A script like Scott Z. Burns’ The Informant! (based on a book by Kurt Eichenwald), however, is a different machine.
That’s not to say there’s a twist in Steven Soderbergh’s film. There isn’t. The progression of the plot is a very natural extension of character that’s so subtle you may not pick up on it until it slaps you right in the face. With the exception of a very routine start to the second act, The Informant! follows a gradual transition, challenging the viewer to keep up without pandering or seeming to hide anything.
Hiding anything and everything is really the core of this film. We follow Matt Damon’s Mark Whitacre, a hapless neurotic schlub biochemist functioning as VP of agricultural giant ADM. He quacks out marketing strategies and business lingo as if he’s clearing his throat to delve into subjects of camouflage for polar bears or butterfly self-defense mechanisms. Yet before the audience can bat an eye, Whitacre is an FBI informant for agent Brian Shephard (Scott Bakula), revealing the a large-scale secret price-fixing operation within his employer’s domain.
Without spoiling the fun, I have to say that I laughed a lot at this sarcastic comedy. Half the time, I was laughing at the restrained but great performances, from Bakula to Damon to Arrested Development‘s Tony Hale who rounds out the ensemble as Whitacre’s exasperated lawyer. The other half, I was laughing at myself for not questioning the elements I was being shown, for questioning the naivete of the lead character.
Matt Damon is a true chameleon, able to shift from leading man hero in the Bourne films to a misguided Ned Flanders here; somehow, he’s great and fitting in both roles. Also, any film that brings Tom Wilson (Biff Tannen from the Back to the Future films) back into the business while making Scott Bakula an actual presence on the big screen is a creative feat to be praised.
We’re in a year of great mainstream original films battling the larger evil of rubbish that usually plagues this season. The Informant! is no different — I’d call it counter-programming, but it’s the programming studios are going with, and I couldn’t be happier about it. With this, and films like Where the Wild Things Are and Up in the Air, mainstream cinema is shifting toward more character-driven original works striving for asymmetry.
Rating: 
