‘The Informant!’ is Lighthearted Fun
-----Going in to ‘The Informant!’ one may not even know that it is based on a true story. The trailers allude to what is a lighthearted take on the relationship between common man Mark Whitacre and the FBI, and the film delivers just that. Acting as somewhat of a real life Austin Powers, but just as much as a tale of corporate fraud and legalities, ‘The Informant!’ somehow remains entertaining thanks to the hilarious performance from star Matt Damon.
-----‘The Informant!’ follows the story of Mark Whitacre (Damon), as he finds himself cornered into helping the FBI investigate the company he works for, ADM. Whitacre is all book-smart with about as little street-smart as possible. And as the investigation roles on over a number of years things only get worse for Whitacre, who seems incapable of doing anything right for the Bureau or himself.
-----Matt Damon carries the movie on his back in the lead role of Mark Whitacre. With a clever script to support his antics, Damon’s goofy persona provides consistent laughs and he manages to avoid a caricatured performance. His voiceovers are always entertaining and oddly reminiscent to those heard in the workplace humor of the obsessive Patrick Bateman in, ‘American Psycho.’ Damon’s facial expressions also remain funny even when the true story the film is based on starts to weigh down the plot. Joining Damon are Scott Bakula and Joel McHale as the two FBI agents working with Whitacre. Bakula and McHale provide the straight men to Damon’s bizarre character, and they spend the most o their screen time treating Whitacre like a child, pleading with him to do as he’s told. The Agent duo is good together, though we have seen these archetypes in numerous FBI movies.
-----While the script is always witty, the plot loses speed in the third act. The true story it’s based on starts to take its toll as the film loses direction, and then wraps up with a fairly anticlimactic finish. This is just another testament to Damon’s hysterical performance however, as he avoids the repetitiveness that so often comes with a character whose stupidity becomes more apparent with every scene. Audiences could have been begging for the credits thirty minutes in if not for the steady laughs and ongoing dilemmas of a character you somehow pity despite his consistently discouraging actions.
-----On the technical front, ‘The Informant!’ is chiefly strong, with a few misgivings in the way of lighting. The music almost mirrors that of the ‘Austin Powers’ franchise, providing the film’s primary resemblance to the spy-spoof genre. The titles that intermittently appear on screen to show time and place are also colored pink, green, and other flamboyant colors reminiscent of the Mike Myers franchise. The costume design is actually quite good, as the film takes place predominantly over the course of the nineties, and we see the various fashions of the decade. One thing that audiences are certain to be annoyed by is the lighting. In what is apparently an intentional choice by Director Steven Soderbergh, the light coming from the windows is, without fail, overexposed to the point of emitting a white glow surrounding the characters, one which proceeds only to distract and aggravate the viewer. It is so persistent in every indoor scene that one must assume it is an intentional, but very poor, creative decision. There is also an orange hue emblazoned over many of the scenes, but this just gives the film a unique look, neither distracting nor adding much to the film. One can get the gist of these techniques in the movie poster, which actually serves as a great example for the overbearing window glares and orange hues.
-----After last year’s biopic ‘Che,’ Director Steven Soderbergh has moved in the opposite direction of storytelling. ‘Che’ was much like a documentary in its realistic, uncompromising take on the Cuban icon; whereas ‘The Informant!’ seems to employ about as many “artistic liberties” as it can while still claiming to be based on a true story. There’s even a disclaimer in the beginning of the film admitting its liberal interpretation of the true story. Soderbergh has mercifully avoided the self-righteous and distasteful black humor of last year’s CIA satire ‘Burn After Reading,’ and has instead made an unassuming and entertaining tale of a man too naïve for his own good. It is a tad less whimsical than the trailers would have you believe, but Damon’s performance comes through as one of the year’s best comedic feats to date! The true story does it few favors, but the pace remains solid despite occasional conventionality. Some may find Whitacre’s exploits overly frustrating, but all will find his monologues endearing. And while one screening may satisfy many, Damon makes a strong case for repeat viewings. It is the first true adult comedy to come along in some time, and those even vaguely intrigued by the trailer will find a lot to like in ‘The Informant!’
|
