RETRO REVIEW: THE INFORMANT

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS: YE BE WARNED















The Informant is yet another brilliant film that came to us in 2009. It is a commentary about the insane, the lies they tell, and the clueless that thoughtlessly buy into said lies.

The Informant is actually based on a true story about the highest ranking whistle blower in U.S History: Mark Whitacre. Mark Whitacre worked for a company named ADM. One day he decided to blow the whistle on what he claimed was a price-fixing scam set up by ADM. The film is filled with the inner thoughts of Mark Whitacre, which he beautifuuly but dully describes to the audience. One such example is Mark's thoughts about how a man can be alive one second and drop dead the next. His thoughts are hilariously boring and dull to the point where they may bring some to tears.

Even though the film takes place in the 90's, it's filmed to evoke the style of a goofy 70's spy film which makes sense since most of the film is from Mark's crazed POV. He sees himself as a hero for the modern day, a cool super smart spy, and the "Good Guy", even though he may be revealed to be quite the opposite later on.

The whole atmosphere the film is set in is crazed, goofy, fun, and surprisingly serious near the end. The film uses fun, goofy music to help set the mood for the rest of the piece. One of the things that makes the film really special and entertaining is that it's quite easy to get caught up in the addictive atmosphere that the film sets up.

Mark Whitacre is played brilliantly by Matt Damon. For the role he dons thick glasses and wears a goofy smile for most of the film. He is supported by a superb cast of characters: Scott Bakula as head FBI agent Brian Shepard, Joel Mchale as his partner Bob Herndon, Thomas F. Wilson (Biff from Back To The Future) as one of the higher-ups at ADM Mark Cheviron, and Melanie Lynskey as Marks wife Ginger Whitacre. All of whom put on fantastic, subtly funny performances.

The Informant is a tale about Lies and the effect they have on those around them. It's quite entertaining and tragic to watch Mark continually dig himself a deeper grave as he goes against all advice in an attempt to build himself up as a hero and lie his way out of the situations he finds himself in. The Informant is a quietly hilarious entertaining moral fable that is pretty hard to forget once the final credits roll.

4/5