Still in theaters!: The Informant!

October 16, 5:21 PMMilwaukee Movie ExaminerMichael Offerosky

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Copyright Warner Bros. 2009

Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a dark comedy made ever unbelievable by the fact that it's all based on true events. The Informant! is about corporate intrigue and price fixing. It's not the kind of thing that comedies are made of but that's what helps The Informant! be so unpredictable and unexpected.

Matt Damon turns in a wonderful understated performance as Mark Whitacre who is an executive at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). ADM works in food additives. Whitacre finds out that ADM is fixing their prices and turns informant for the FBI. Whitacre thinks that after the dust has settled that this will help his career advance at the company. All starts out well but then things start to fall apart when things turn out to be not  at all what they seemed with Whitacre. If there were a character who resembles Whitacre in recent film history it would be William H. Macy's character in Fargo. Two ordinary average guys who get in way over their heads.

Soderbergh's film relishes in the mundane, average, everyday details. In the end, it's hard to set apart the truth from the lies that Whitacre wove for various reasons. I think that is part of the net effect of what Soderbergh is attempting to achieve here. It makes the viewer think can a crook help catch crooks. In addition to Matt Damon's fine turn as Mark Whittacre there is a fine supporting cast. Familiar faces fill the film from Scott Bakula and Joel McHale (from NBC's Community and E! network's The Soup)  as FBI agents to Tony Hale and Patton Oswalt.  Marvin Hamlisch's wonderful, whimsical score is reminisent of the one he provided for Woody Allen's Bananas. It evokes a playful tone and has fun riffing on spy themes.

The Informant! is one worth checking out. Would I lie to you?