The Informant!

Are you ready for whistle-blowing as absurdist comedy? Director Steven Soderbergh, working with Scott Z. Burns' screenplay based on the acclaimed 2000 nonfiction thriller by Kurt Eichenwald, here re-imagines the true-life story of Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), a delusional Ph.D. biochemist and divisional president at Archer Daniels Midland, who, after learning about a Japanese extortion scheme in 1992, decides to expose the agribusiness company's multinational price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI. For years, the high-strung Whitacre has devoted himself to turning corn into profit for the Illinois-based firm, but now he totes wiretapping equipment and works as an informant, referring to himself as Agent 0014 (“because I'm twice as smart as James Bond”) and spinning enough tall tales to utterly confuse FBI agents Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale); adding to the drama is the indisputable fact that Whitacre has pocketed some $9 million in kickbacks over the years. Soderbergh's ambiguously ironic production resembles Catch Me If You Can and Burn After Reading more than serious big-business skullduggery exposés like Erin Brockovich or The Insider. The film's ditsy originality stems from screenwriter Burns' invention of Whitacre's antic voiceover narration--an internal monologue offering indisputable evidence of his bipolar disorder—but this is really Damon's show: wearing a hairpiece, mustache, and steel-rimmed glasses, while pitching his voice higher than usual, the actor effectively channels a manic energy that creates the undeniable charm of his character. Subversive and sneaky, The Informant! is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include additional scenes (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is audio commentary by director Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns, and a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a winning film.] (S. Granger)