Review of The Informant! (2009) by In Your D — 14 Dec 2010

I admit that I was very apprehensive about watching this film for two primary reasons:

1. The cover art is retarded, and.

2. Movies about corporate corruptions are redundant and their intended audience will probably never watch them anyway.

The first 15 or so minutes of The Informant are grueling exactly because it fulfills those two preconceptions; the moral macguffin presented (in this case a syrup-eating virus) is introduced almost immediately, and Mark Whitaker's personality and objectives aren't clearly defined. He's a family-man, a straight flyer, but you can tell by his awkward disposition that he's really just phoning it all in. And then something wonderful happens! The film reveals itself to be a character study of this self-serving compulsive liar. It works wonderfully on this level, and appropriately sidelines the lysine-development company ADM as a frame for the kind of mentally-ill persona that thrives in big-business.

Basically this dick-hole instigates a Federal inquiry upon his company on suspicion of price-fixing because he sees an opportunity to make a butt-load of money, and eventually, take over the place. He does this by fabricating reality to his benefit, practically as he goes, and acting upon his perception of reality so fiercely that the impressionable people around him can't help but go along for the ride-- even the FBI. When the authorities begin to call him out on his bullshit he twists the story and transforms himself into the victim, often using the exact same anecdotes repeatedly. (Not just the same story retold, I mean WORD FOR WORD.) His quick tongue and improvisational skills wear his victims down, at least at first, and he is so successful in part because he makes folks believe that they are getting something out of him as well.

The growing success of Mark's manipulation, pity-pandering and cashing in of people's trust begins to build his confidence up to disturbingly arrogant proportions-- a recipe for an even more reprehensible monster, considering his behavior was instigated by a vast emptiness of character in the first place. What happens when a monster gains fulfillment? It gets complacent, and its victims start to catch on, as is the case here.

Eventually Mark goes on to fool the entire country, for a while, and screenwriter Burns deserves kudos for pointing out how people will believe almost anything a man says if he has a devoted woman on his arm. Turns out married couples are simultaneously some of the most boring AND manipulative people on the planet.

The comedy in this movie (and it is hilarious) is more complex than what you might expect from jokes in the usual sense. Aesthetically the film looks like a mockery of cheap 70s disco movies (like That 70s Show) which is strange because it takes place in the 90s. The real meat comes from watching Matt Damon single-handedly undermine the efforts of the criminal justice system, as well as a giant company that essentially controls the country's food supply. The entire story is told from his perspective, but sometimes it trails off to show the repercussions, and this makes it all the more amusing. If you appreciate satire and subtlety of wit, you will appreciate the Misadventures of Mark Whitaker, a force upon the plain.

Scott Bakula was kind of flat, and that annoying chick from Three and a Half Men plays Whitaker's wife. Naturally, the best part of the film is when Matt Damon gets found out, and boy does he get found out-- or does he? I wonder where the virus that is eating ADM's product came from. Spoiler alert: Mark is a Chemist.