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When a movie title includes an exclamation point, you’re supposed to think it must be important. (That's why in some circles this overused punctuation mark is known as a “shout.”)
But you’d also be justified in assuming that the makers of the film had so little confidence in its box-office appeal, even with Matt Damon in the lead, that they felt compelled to add this bit of hype as an insurance policy.
When we see Matt Damon walking anywhere in The Informant!?and he seems to be shown just walking more often than anyone in any other movie in history?his voice-over thoughts are really so fun. Here's an example: “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.'" Fun? You betcha!
It also gives you something to ponder as you watch Damon do some more walking. You can also ponder why, with all the
walking he does, Damon’s character is so pudgy.
walking he does, Damon’s character is so pudgy.The crux of the story (based on true events, mind you) is that agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland is engaging in price fixing and a VP (Damon) feels compelled to turn the company in to the FBI (namely, Scott Bakula). As the plot unfolds (unravels?), it turns out that neither the VP nor his story are exactly as he portrayed them.
Things go from rotten (as in apples) to worse, until the incredible ending. Although it's based on true events (so you have to believe it), it feels like nothing more than a writer's desperate attempt to get out of the corner he's just painted himself into. The truth is not always the best of script writers. Just stating the incredible doesn’t automatically make it credible.
Since the ending also gives you an entirely new perspective on the VP, you might feel that the rug has just been pulled out from under you. In other words, you've been had, big time.
Scott Z. Burns (who co-authored the 2007 Damon thriller The Bourne Ultimatum) based his screenplay on Kurt Eichenwald 's book The Informant. (No shout; can't be very important.
But the real brains behind the movie is the director, Steven Soderbergh, a very spotty director (and sometime screenwriter), to say the least.. His break-through film, sex, lies, and videotape (1989) announced by its all lowercase title that it was a new kind of film. But it was really old-fashioned voyeurism that didn’t even deliver what it promised.
Solaris (2002) was even more incomprehensible than the Russian movie, Solyaris (1972), on which it was based. The Good German (2006) didn’t make much sense even when you actually understood what was going on. Traffic (2000) was only intermittently absorbing; the tacked-on feel-good they-all-go-to-the-beach-afterwards ending would have put Melina Mercouri’s happy hooker Ilya (Never on Sunday,1960) to shame. And Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) were simply pap for those who still felt the Sinatra Rat Pack was cool (or do I mean “kewl”?).
On the other hand, when he’s being more conventional and less pretentious, as in Erin Brockovich (2000), his films can be rather enjoyable.
If you’re looking for a real fun time, skip The Informant! and spend a day at the beach with Medea. Now that you know, thanks to Ilya’s retelling, that she didn’t really kill her children after all, you might just want to yock it up with Euripides and the gang.
Or you might want to follow in Matt Damon’s footsteps and take a walk…and think deep thoughts.
It's so fun, don't you know..
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