Elemental Movies

Movie Review The Informant!

Article by Craig Forgrave

MarketBOB Movie Review of The Informant!

Agent 0014 exposes the corn conspiracy!

One Word Review: GOOD

The Informant! is a nostalgic comedy about corporate crime and the “little guy”. Frank Capra made a bushel of these movies in the 1930′s, with high morals and happy endings which critics labeled “Capra-corn”. We have the corn in The Informant! but no Capra, although director Steven Soderbergh tries hard to deliver an update of the little guy against the world saga, made famous by movies like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. These were two fictional Capra-corn classics, but Mr Whitacre Goes to the FBI is true to life and the reality that not all heroes are pure of heart.The little guy is Mr. Whitacre, a VP for a large agricultural company, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) who decides to follow his conscience and expose the price-fixing scheme carried on by top executives. He records meetings while acting out fantasies of being better than Bond (thus the 0014, twice as smart as 007) and crafty as the Tom Cruise character in The Firm.

The first half is comic as Whitacre bumbles through the mechanics of recording meetings and staging hidden cameras but, once we learn more and more about the bipolar character of our undercover spy, his nobility dissolves before our eyes. Matt Damon pulls off the transformation, using the scattered, confused actions to shadow the ultimate deceit which is the bedrock of his portrayal of Whitacre.It is the lying core of this little guy, as opposed to the goodness deep in Mr. Deeds or Mr. Smith, that updates this character from the 30′s to the present day. He is a whistleblower out for his own gain, wanting to profit from sacrifice, as is the way of the world today. As the FBI agent advises Whitacre early on, “there is only one good choice, to be completely honest”. We used to make movies where advice like that was listened to, but not any more.

The Story

The story begins in the old style of movies, with credits rolling and close-up shots of hands priming a recording briefcase for action. This is the visual metaphor for the movie, the business case holding the record of truth. All the movie events revolve around recordings, as our hero, Mr. Whitacre attends meetings, records conversations and exposes the inside dealings of a major corporation. The first conspiracy concerns a mole sabotaging a plant manufacturing a corn derivative called Lysine but quickly expands to price-fixing between Lysine manufacturers.

The FBI works with Whitacre to collect evidence by recording meetings, finally getting the smoking gun as a room full of executives from several companies agree to control production in order to maintain high prices. Ironically, the ADM executive who arranges the illegal agreement explains it will only work if these manufacturers trust each other. As in all successful enterprises, you need trust among thieves.

Once the FBI moves on ADM, the star witness starts to unravel, revealing his own kick-back payments he has been collecting on the side. He has lived a life of lies, even to his claim of being adopted at age 6. The case survives with several ADM executives going to jail but the biggest jail sentence goes to our “hero” who, it seems, can’t stop lying. In the end, standing before Dick Smothers as the judge, Whitacre apologized for the “ride” he took everyone on and blamed his lack of medication for his actions.

As the movie ends, he emerged from prison with two more degrees, a waiting wife and kids and a lot of peaceful nights sleeping in his cell.

The GenreThe Informant! is billed as a comedy, adapted from the book by journalist Kurt Eichenwald. True stories usually fare well at the movies, especially inspirational biographies like Ray. Corporate tales do not resonate with audiences who spend their days in cubicles working for the 3-letter megacorp. The last thing most white-collar workers want is to go to the movies to see the same thing. With few exceptions, corporate settings for movies have to be comedies or thrillers, taking a story out of workaday life to some exaggerated farce or conspiracy.

This movie has no likeable characters to root for, no interesting settings or business expertise to add glamour and the storyline is morally empty. Every organization and character acts out of self-interest and cynicism, from the Justice Department to the FBI to the executives at ADM. The comedy is understated, mostly verbal narrative with Damon acting the naïve idiot in his role of super agent. One wonders how he could have become a VP if he was such an idiot as a spy.

The Overall QualityMatt Damon is brilliant in the portrayal of Whitacre as he arcs from doing the right thing to falsifying documents and turning on his few friends in a desperate attempt to deflect blame. His added weight makes him into another Philip Seymour Hoffman. The use of narration to expose his inner thoughts (mostly trivial and disjointed) works both as a source of humor and a hint of his personal demons. It also slides seamlessly into the jokey narration he does “live” when he first starts recording his business dealings.

The performance of Scott Bakula as FBI agent Shepherd reminds one of a Spock-like outsider in Whitacre’s world. His face registers a great, blank look when the unexpected happens, which is often while inside, he’s thinking “this is not logical”. The Smothers brothers play small roles, Tom as the head of ADM and Dick as the judge. Both have aged well, as they command the screen during decisive moments in Whitacre’s life when his role is exposed within the corporation and then during sentencing.

One weak component of the film is the Marvin Hamlisch score, which is too much of a good thing. I found the old-time music irritating after the first half-hour and when the kazoo comes in as the FBI rolls out the charges against ADM, it took me out of the story completely. The script added several mind maps of Whitacre’s disjointed thoughts, as he jumps from polar bear’s hunting techniques to time-saving tips in the shower to last statements before you die. It is odd the script gives Ginger, Whitacre’s wife a pivotal role in urging him on and then leaves her in the background for the rest of the story, dutifully waiting for her husband to get out of jail.Movie/Market Analysis

MarketBOB’s sentiment indicators, the GQS (Genre, Quality, Story) make The Informant! a BEAR movie. The movie is crafted with care and precision, but the story leaves the audience without a hero and a dim view of corporate America and the compromising nature of justice. The setting and genre are familiar and dull, hardly the escape from reality most people go to the movies to enjoy.