The Informant! Film Review Paper

It is typically a guarantee in movies that the protagonist won’t lie to the audience; other people may, but the main character (especially if he’s doing some of the narration) never does. In Steven Soderbergh’s (Ocean’s 13) earlier collaborations with Matt Damon in the Ocean’s trilogy the audience isn’t always let in on the secrets, but we aren’t lied to by the characters. In their newest project, The Informant!, this is not the case. Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon, the Bourne series) lies. A lot. He lies to the audience, every other character, and even at times to himself and the audience only finds out way after the fact. So, what starts as a fairly mundane movie about a corporate whistle-blower ends in a way no one (who doesn’t know the true story this is based on) could imagine.
The movie has a simple premise [SPOILER ALERT!]: a high-level employee of a company (ADM) becomes an informant for the FBI. He spends years making tapes and setting up meetings before the FBI has enough evidence to make their case against ADM. When the FBI makes its raid, however, everything starts to unravel. The allegations against the company are true, but it comes to light that Mark Whitacre has been hiding some secrets of his own from the FBI and the audience. The entire second part of the movie is the discovery of these lies and just how deep they go. Due to these lies, the FBI starts to investigate, causing Whitacre go on the defensive. He goes from lawyer to lawyer as he lies to each one and ignores their requests to stay away from the press; so, finally he ends up with some random personal injury lawyer, the only man willing to take his case anymore. I don’t want to give away too much more because it was fun to go into the movie with no previous knowledge and watch it all play out.
The movie is funny and moves along quickly, mostly due to the supporting characters who are constantly being lied to by Mark. Melanie Lynskey (Away We Go) plays Ginger Whitacre, Mark’s loving and faithful wife who sticks by him no matter what, in a manner that is both funny and touching. TV’s Scott Bakula (The New Adventures of Old Christine, Chuck) and Joel McHale (The Soup, Community) play the FBI agents who work closely with Whitacre and as such feel the most betrayed. The two agents are witty and fun to have on screen as they are basically yanked around by Mark in the first half. They do a great job of playing agents who can’t quite believe that someone this high up in a company would want to help them, but they are able to not look a gift horse in the mouth, which ends up costing them in the end. My personal favorite appearance was from Tony Hale (TV’s Chuck, Arrested Development), who played Mark’s first lawyer. His pained looks and more and more frustrated attitude really hit home how much of a mess Mark has created for himself.
What makes this movie really work is Matt Damon’s excellent portrayal of Mark Whitacre, a man who is, much like the title of the movie, unassuming at first, maybe even a little bit boring, however, when you dig a little deeper, there is so much more to discover. He has the ability to get people to trust him, which works to his favor for a while, but only ends up hurting everyone when the truth really comes out (if it in fact does). He is so wonderfully delusional (he thinks that bringing down the men in charge will get him the top job at the company) that you can’t help but feel bad for the man, even though it is all a problem of his own making. Matt Damon may have been hiding behind Whitacre’s large glasses and hair-piece, but his acting was top-notch once again, and his likeability really helps in getting the audience to trust Whitacre right away. In his capable hands, the character of Mark Whitacre is able to get with (almost) everything and make the audience root for him the whole way. He is heartbreaking as you watch him lose it all, and not really understand why. He is both a man who is a victim of corporate greed and of his own mind and the audience can't help but feel sorry for him when it all comes crashing down.
Technically, the film is well done. There are many great camera shots that just focus on Whitacre's face and the audience is able to see the slow unraveling of the man. The movie was filmed in a way that gave it the look of a 1970s or 80s crime drama, complete with the graphics. The whole thing was filmed with soft, yellow lighting, especially when Whitacre was in frame, which gave it the air of being a older and was actually taking place during the time when the story really happened. Another element I liked was that as this was mostly about the characters was that in most of the shots the faces were in focus, but the background was always a little blurry and undefined, which really made the audience focus on the faces, and really be able to have an appreciation for just how good of a liar Mark Whitacre really was, as we could “look” into his eyes and not be able to tell. There wasn’t a lot of soundtrack with the movie; it was mostly diagetic sound that really highlighted that this was a real man going about his “real” life. Once the truth started coming out, however, the background came into focus a little more and the lighting got a little more harsh and white, as if we were coming out of Whitacre’s fantasy world and into the real world.
In all, this was a very enjoyable movie, witty and well-paced and constantly keeping the audience on their toes. If you liked the Ocean’s movies, or just like Matt Damon, then this is a great movie for you. I do recommend seeing it with at least one other person, because there is a lot to talk about after the movie is over. My only complaint is that while the movie is funny and witty it isn’t “quotable,” which allows specific parts to fade from memory pretty quickly. However, I very much enjoyed the experience of watching a fine actor play a great character and trying to figure what actually happened in the end!