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DVD Review- The Informers (2009)
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Mickey Rourke plays Uncle Peter in The Informers,
Novelist Bret Easton Ellis writes books that are about beautiful people doing horrible things to each other. Many of his books have been adapted for the big screen, including Less Than Zero, the infamous American Psycho, and The Rules of Attraction (which is this reviewer's favorite of the cinematic versions). These stories take place in that heralded decade of excess and glamour, the 1980's. Now we have the film adaptation of Ellis's The Informers, a 1994 book that is less a novel than a collection of short stories featuring interconnected characters.
The big screen version of The Informers takes place in Los Angeles in 1983, beginning at a wild party set to the tune of the excellent Simple Minds song "New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84." The bash is then rudely interrupted when one party-goer is fatally hit by a car. From there, we meet various so-called friends of the deceased and a myriad of others who are related to these characters in some tenuous way. There's William Sloan (Billy Bob Thornton), a movie executive who is trying to reconcile with his estranged and drug-addled wife Laura (Kim Basinger), but unfortunately he's still longing for his former lover Cheryl Laine (Winona Ryder), a local television reporter. William and Laura have a son named Graham (Jon Foster; Stay Alive, The Door in the Floor), a self-obsessed drug dealer who has a very open relationship with the beautiful Christie (Amber Heard; Pineapple Express). Graham and Christie often share their bed with the young hot shot music video director Martin (Austin Nichols; The Day After Tomorrow), a character who shows up in the beds of many of the cast members.
We also meet the bellhop Jackson (the late Brad Renfro; Bully, Apt Pupil). Jackson has the misfortune to receive a visit from his uncle Peter (Mickey Rourke; The Wrestler, Sin City), who comes driving a van with a comatose teenage girl and an immoral plan to make some quick cash. We also witness the exploits of rock star Bryan Metro (Mel Raido), an abusive addict who often is surprised to find just about anybody in his bed. Also, we follow the arrogant Les Price (musician Chris Isaak) as he takes his possibly homosexual (so Les thinks) son Tim (Lou Taylor Pucci; Thumbsucker) on an ill-fated trip to Hawaii.
As previously mentioned, all of these disparate characters are linked in some often tenuous ways (i.e., Graham has an uncomfortable and short conversation with Jackson), but these separate plotlines do not come together for a big payoff like in Magnolia. Not that a film like this needs to neatly tie up so many loose ends, but more than a few of these characters end the film seemingly in the middle of their stories. The acting on display here, from the big name headliners down to those you've never heard of, is all very well done. Each of these characters come off as fully embodied (many seem well suited to headline movies of their own), but it seems that the problem here is the director Gregor Jordan, whose previous films include Buffalo Soldiers and the Australian Two Hands.
The screenplay was written by Bret Easton Ellis along with Nicholas Jarecki (producer of Tyson) and reportedly took three years to complete. Jarecki was originally set to direct The Informers but the producers chose to replace him with Jordan. Jordan apparently had a different vision of the script, going so far as to shorten it from 150 pages to a scant 94. Jordan also omitted a plotline that followed a character who is supposed to be a vampire (this character is present in the original book), removing what could have been an interesting supernatural element. Also, Jordan changed the tone of the original screenplay from absurdist and lightheartedly satirical to what we have now, which is darker and takes itself very seriously.
Regardless, what made it to the screen is still pretty good, though one wonders how great that original screenplay would have been (remake anyone?). Some of the dark humor remains, like when a Pat Benatar song makes a very humorous appearance at a funeral. While the movie itself is something of a mess, the supreme performances of the actors shine through the muddled finished product. The doomed and vastly underappreciated actor Brad Renfro (who died of an overdose at the age of 25 shortly after finishing this movie) has the most prescient and ironic line: "You can't really make it in this town unless you're really willing to do some awful things...I'm willing." If you're a fan of Ellis, on screen or on the printed page, this is certainly worth a look. If the idea of watching beautiful people doing horrible things to each other bums you out, then stay far away. Now if only someone would get around to adapting Ellis's greatest book to date, 2005's Lunar Park, that could make one helluva interesting meta horror flick if done right.
Here's an idea that has some ripe crossover potential: How about making the next entry in the Final Destination series (it's inevitable, the latest installment, The Final Destination, topped the box office this past weekend, raking in almost $30 million) a prequel, and set it in 1983 with characters straight out of a Bret Easton Ellis novel? The opening disaster could be a popular club caving in on itself or getting set ablaze. The death scenes practically write themselves. There could be a guy snorting cocaine who gets bonked on the back of the head and gets his coke straw shoved up his nose and into his brain. Eh? Or there could be a threesome that's rudely interrupted by a shower of broken glass from a shattered mirror that was on the ceiling, perhaps detonated by an errant cork from a champagne bottle. Wait, there's more! A dude could get the zipper from his Members Only jacket caught in an escalator (at the mall, of course) somehow causing his premature death. And, there absolutely must be a scene where a Valley Girl incinerates her head with a lethal mix of Aquanet and an open flame. You're welcome, Hollywood. Just be sure to give this reviewer the proper screenplay credit and requisite paycheck.
The DVD features for The Informers include a commentary with the director and actors Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci, and the featurette "Human Intersections: Making The Informers." Also available on Blu-Ray.
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