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There's an echo of Catch Me If You Can and the Coen's Burn After Reading about this so-crazy-it-must-be-true crime caper. The Informant! shares a similar vein of wit with a dob of absurdity for extra measure. And while it may not have the cinematic value of Leo and Tom harassing each other around the world – this story stays firmly planted in hotel rooms and corporate offices – it flies on a crackling script and matchless performances. And it's all true. Mostly.
It's the early-1990's and Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) works for a corn corporation. He inadvertently invites the FBI into his life when he asserts that a Japanese rival has planted a mole in his office. He then, surprisingly, also alerts the feds to a price fixing scam run by his own company, and turns informant to help them bring it down. What follows is an often bewildering round of cat and mouse as agents and moles tangle themselves in a frightful mess. Thing is, Mark is also a compulsive liar and a considerable amount of what he says can't be trusted. Sorting the truth from the lies is both the fun and frustration of Soderbergh's razor-sharp comedy.
Damon gained weight for the film and clearly relishes playing a deeply troubled corporate trapeze artist. Similarly Scott Bakula, Whitacre's FBI contact who soon plunges far out of his depth. In fact, everyone looks to be having a ripe time working a blister script by Scott Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) as Mark, against good advice, turns media-whore. His stream-of-consciousness voice-overs are pure comic delight. Many of the smaller roles are filled by stand-up comics which accounts for the overwhelming sense of fun that fills any cracks in the movie (there are some, a trifling concern). That Whitacre's life leads somewhere he never anticipated goes without saying. How he gets there is what makes The Informant! such a winner.
// COLIN FRASER
moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks