While The Informant! (2009) is based on a true story, it is difficult believing the real life Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) was anywhere near this delusional. I admire that a high ranking executive would sacrifice his career and uber six figure salary to expose illegal price fixing in the food additives industry. But Mark is so out of touch with reality he thinks when the dust settles from the FBI investigation (in which he equates his involvement to that of an heroic super spy) his culpability will garner no repercussions, and even harder to swallow is he will be left in charge of his company. And theres also the matter of the nine million dollars he embezzles along the way.
To make sense of the preposterous narrative we should understand the scandal is not the film’s focus but rather the backdrop against which the surreal inner life of the main character plays out. Steven Soderbergh’s (Ocean’s Trilogy, Traffic) whimsical farce starts off strong as we share in bizarre observations and non sequiturs floating through Mark’s interior monologue but grows repetitive and less effective as the story progresses. Though commendable is the central performance by Damon (for which he packed on 30 pounds while sporting a nerdy hairdo and mustache) balanced by the supporting cast including a solid turn from Scott Bakula as FBI agent Brian Shephard and a slew of comedic talent (including Joel McHale, Scott Adsit and the Smothers Brothers) playing against type as straight foils for Whitacre’s comical antics.
I just have a hard time reconciling that an individual astute enough to have risen to the upper ranks of corporate America or who can subtlety arrange the seating of business associates to optimize placement of hidden cameras/bugs would also be clueless enough to tell his secretary he’d be at a hush, hush FBI sting just in case she has to get in touch with him (which, in and of itself, is admittedly hilarious). The director comments that this kind of behavior is what drew him to Whitacre’s story, so while truth may be stranger than fiction, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee compelling cinema. As much as I enjoyed Damon’s quirky portrayal, by the half way point I found myself struggling to suspend disbelief and counting the minutes until the credits rolled.
High-Def Presentation
I am beginning to suspect Soderbergh has abandoned making visually pleasing films based on recent efforts such as The Girlfriend Experience’s contrived stylistic flare and Ocean’s Thirteen’s painful use of color. As much as I respect the director’s artistic license, the over-exposed back lighting plaguing a majority of the Informant! becomes beyond tiresome. Beneficially it distracts from the bland golden hues that the visual palette wallows in. Warner’s high-def transfer is for the most part clean though minimal compression artifacts crop up, but considering the flick was shot natively in HD, I was expecting a greater sense of dimensionality and detail. I am guessing this is just how Steven wants his crazy story to look for better or worse.
The included 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track is not doing much for the cause of lossless audio. To be fair the script is dialog driven but beyond the constant (and clearly reproduced) banter there is little ambiance to this mix with the rears only getting minimal attention from Marvin Hamlisch’s generic 1960’s/70’s sounding score.
Beyond the Feature
There is not a whole lot going on in the extras department with the highlight being the Blu-ray exclusive Feature Length Commentary from director Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns delving into the adaptation of the novel, production and casting choices. While their comments don’t mitigate my complaints about the main character’s goofy behavior, the pair confirm the comedic tone was intentional so this “whistleblower” flick would distinguish itself from Micheal Mann’s more serious The Insider (they definitely achieved that goal). There are also four Additional Scenes (6:25, HD) that would have added little to the feature and are barely worth your attention. Wrapping up the supplements is a second disc/DVD housing a Digital Copy of the movie for PC and Mac (good for one year from release date).
You will need to buy into Matt Damon’s surreal performance as a nerdy, corporate whistleblower for the The Informant! to be a success. Though initially engaging for me, an eccentric character and a few great scenes played over and over thematically do not add up to a commendable movie. Warner’s BD may be technically accurate to the director’s intent, but high-def only accentuates the underwhelming a/v, and the decent commentary is forced to shoulder the supplemental burden. As amusing as any particular scene in the movie may be, I have no desire to sit through them all in row again.
– Robert Searle
Shop for The Informant! on Blu-ray for a discounted price at Amazon.com.
