Entertainment Ireland

The Informant

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When initially hearing of a Steven Soderbergh film starring Matt Damon as a high level corporate informant, you'd be forgiven for thinking "thriller." It's based on a true story, has an Oscar winning director and star, and has been mooted as award worthy by some critics. But The Informant is ostensibly a comedy, about quite possibly the biggest gobshite to ever inform for the FBI. It was an extremely brave role for Damon to take, and indeed one for Soderbergh to direct; his character is so immensely spineless and irritating, you'll find yourself wishing Scott Bakula's FBI Agent would just start pistol-whipping him. But, somehow, this still manages to be very funny.

Damon is Mark Whitacre, a high level employee at lysine developing company, ADM. Lysine, the narration informs us, is an ingredient in pretty much everything you eat - so the company is huge. Soon after we first meet Whitacre, he's informing his boss that there is a mole within ADM and a foreign competitor wants millions of dollars to give them up. But his boss then calls in the FBI, who begin an investigation, only to be told by Mark that there is a much bigger price-fixing scam at work. Before he knows it, he's in way over his head, lying like his life depended on it and becoming increasingly deluded with his position at the company and the FBI.

Executed with an almost intrusive quirkiness by Soderbergh, The Informant has a perplexing opening half hour or so. You're not quite sure of Whitacre's motivations, which in turn clouds the movie with ambiguity. But that then works in its favour when the lies become more outlandish, and the tone all the more clearer. This is very much a comedy. Subverting things further by casting known comedic actors in completely straight roles, and vice versa, you get the impression that challenging the audience, as opposed to confusing them, was the point. It doesn't always work, and some may find the lead character too grating to sit through for any protracted period of time, despite Damon’s strong performance.

Turning his action star persona on its head, Damon is both amusing and tragic, physically embodying the role with admirable dedication. Bakula and McHale both offer fine support as the bemused Federal Agents - with some of their reactions ranking amongst the film's funniest - while the rest of the cast are thankfully aware of the tone their director was going for. Offbeat and amusing - once you have the sufficient patience.

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