The Informant! (2009)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers (WGA):

Scott Z. Burns (screenplay)
Kurt Eichenwald (book)

Release Date:

18 September 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Based on a tattle-tale

Plot:

The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre.

Plot Keywords:

Pathological Liar | Punctuation In Title | Exclamation Point In Title | Based On Novel

US Showtimes:

Culver Plaza Theatres

12:20pm | 5:20

(personalize)

Cast

Matt Damon	...	Mark Whitacre
Lucas McHugh Carroll	...	Alexander Whitacre (as Lucas Carroll)
Eddie Jemison	...	Kirk Schmidt
Rusty Schwimmer	...	Liz Taylor
Craig Ricci Shaynak	...	Discouraged Foreman
Tom Papa	...	Mick Andreas
Rick Overton	...	Terry Wilson
Melanie Lynskey	...	Ginger Whitacre
Thomas F. Wilson	...	Mark Cheviron (as Tom Wilson)
Scott Bakula	...	FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard
Scott Adsit	...	Sid Hulse
Ann Dowd	...	FBI Special Agent Kate Medford
Allan Havey	...	FBI Special Agent Dean Paisley
Howie Johnson	...	Rusty Williams
Joel McHale	...	FBI Special Agent Bob Herndon

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44918) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-3 | Italy:T | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:7 | Canada:G (Québec) | Australia:M | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Japan:G | Portugal:M/12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:AL | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Blue Mound, Illinois, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This story was the subject of the 9-15-2000 episode (#168) of This American Life entitled "The Fix is In."

Goofs:

Continuity: When Whitacre first goes in yelling at his boss, his bosses pen appears and disappears between shots.

Quotes:

Mark Whitacre: Polar bears cover their noses before they pounce on a seal. How do polar bears know their noses are black? Did they look in the water one day, see their reflection and say, "Man, I'd be invisible if it wasn't for that thing."

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Late Show with David Letterman: (#17.8)" (2009)

Your White Hat is a bit Dirty

Greetings again from the darkness. Steven Soderbergh is a genius with a camera. Just admiring the shots, angles and movement of the camera in his films is worth the price of admission. Here we get a fact-based story from the book by Kurt Eichenwald showing us what happened when Mark Whitacre became one of the most famous corporate whistle-blowers of all time ... he exposed price-fixing at Archer Daniels Midland, the ag-giant.

Matt Damon takes this quasi-caricature and turns him into a comedy act along the lines of Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar. OK, I'll admit, there is more subtlety here than in that one. Still, the voice-overs by Damon's character provide the ramblings of a madman - an ADD, embezzling madman.

There is so much comedy here that it is easy to forget what heinous crimes the senior management of this company actually committed - and how arrogant to think they could get away with it. This again shows that many in the corporate world are the equals of even the most corrupt politicians. Power and Greed are all-consuming.

While, I don't know the details of the real story, it was interesting to watch Whitacre's interacting/playing with the FBI agents (Scott Bacula and Joel McHale). They want to believe him and are actually crushed when his game is exposed.

A real Soderbergh touch is the casting of both Smothers Brothers in unrelated roles. Very nice. It is very difficult for me to believe that someone as intelligent and shrewd as Whitacre could actually be so, well, goofy. But it does add an entertainment element to the film. I will say it is not at the level of far superior "The Insider" or even "Catch Me if You Can", but it is quite watchable.