Review: "THE INFORMANT!"

In this economic climate, most people don't have a positive attitude towards banks, Wall Street, or Big Business. Believed by many to be the root cause of last year's economic collapse, the corporate world can't seem to catch any slack nowadays.

But shady, conspicuous behavior by corporate conglomerates certainly isn't anything new. But the recent undercurrent of hostility targeted towards extreme capitalism serves to help fuel director Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!", a clever, darkly funny adaptation of Kurt Eichenwald's nonfiction book of the same name.

Based on a true story in the early '90s (but with some aspects of the story and characters fictionalized, as stated by a snarky opening title card), "The Informant" revolves around Mark Whitcare (Matt Damon), Divisional President of Decautur, IL-based agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). A pudgy, seemingly clean-cut rising star in his field, Whitacre uncovers an illegal price-fixing scam perpetrated by both his superiors at ADM and their competitors in Japan.

After his wife Ginger (Melanie Lynskey) threatens to inform the FBI of this scandal if he didn't, Mark eventually blows the whistle on the illicit activity to FBI agents Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale). For the next two and a half years, Whitacre clandestinely tapes the illegal goings-on for the Feds, giving the authorities enough evidence to create an airtight case. But as time goes by, Whitacre turns out to be more than his image suggests, and it turns out that he's just as corrupt as the people he's helping bring down.

Soderbergh's movies have always been wildly diverse in terms of subject matter and tone, from the dark and somber ("Traffic", "Che"), goofy and lighthearted (the "Ocean's" series), and the highly experimental ("Bubble", "The Girlfriend Experience"). It's difficult to determine what category "The Informant" falls into. Despite the corporate espionage/corruption storyline that's worthy of a Crichton novel, there's an abundance of subtle, dark humor used as window dressing. From the bouncy, '50s-sitcom-style score by Marvin Hamlisch to the comically bizarre behaviors exhibited by the main character, you can't help but chuckle at how much the deceptive behavior shown here isn't too different from what you hear in the news every day (especially since this behavior really DID happen).

But Soderbergh's secret weapon for making this whole endeavor work is Matt Damon. Adding thirty pounds to his usually toned frame and donning a mustache that would make Geraldo envious, Damon makes the film his own in a fantastic and fascinating performance. His Whitacre unravels spectacularly, from a seemingly honest and hardworking family man to a conniving, bipolar, and shockingly pathological liar. Other performances are good, especially Bakula as the trusting and soft-spoken FBI agent, but in the end, this is Damon's show, through and through.

The advertisements paint "The Informant!" as a goofy, slapstick farce, but although there are laughs to be had, the film truly is a comedy with deeply serious undertones. A good way to vent for those fed up with greed-driven corporate culture, "The Informant!" is a corporate thriller of the postmodern variety, and a shining testament to the ages-old phrase, "Turnabout's fair play".

LETTER GRADE: "B+"