The Informant!

Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!(2009) is a sharp-witted, deceptively-straightforward corporate satire. At glance, it's a more light-hearted version of something like Michael Clayton or The Insider, where an evil corporation does wrong, a good-hearted man blows the whistle, and shenanigans ensue. But the movie is a lot more nuanced than that, and for this reason, Soderbergh creates a wonderfully smart, ambiguous look at corporate culture, that eschews the expected "thriller" cliches and creates a film that is part satire, part, and part character study.

Mark Whiteacre (Matt Damon) is a well-meaning corporate executive living a in Decatur, Illinois, working for ADM, one of the world's largest sugar-manufacturing companies. However, when he learns the FBI is investigating alleged improprieties by his bosses and co-workers, he somewhat-reluctantly turns informer, helping the Justice Department compile a case of the company's indiscretions, price-fixing and swindling of consumers. Soon, however, both ADM's lawyers and the FBI discover problems with Whiteacre's story - namely, that he continually leaves out crucial bits of information in his testimony. Soon the FBI is investigating Whiteacre's own possible indiscretion - as his lies and omissions pile up, and begin to reveal something sinister about the FBI's star witness.

At first glance, it's hard to see where The Informant is going. The movie (based on a true story) sets itself up with a light comedy atmosphere - a bizarre, near-incoherent stream-of-conscious narration by Whiteacre ("How do polar bears KNOW they have black noses?"), a somewhat-obnoxious muzak score by Marvin Hamlisch, giving the overall impression of a cheesy sitcom. At first, it seems jarring for a film of this type - perhaps it's a spoof of the typical corporate thriller film? - but as the story develops, the reason becomes evident. Indeed, as the film's characters discover, it becomes evident that the movie's tone is very much in-keeping with the underlying story; the whole film cleverly misleads the viewer, in both the story itself, and what the film is actually about.

It's nice to see a corporate satire lacking the obnoxious and all-too-predictable "corporations-are-evil" claptrap of most thrillers (The International, The Insider, The Firm, any of Tony Gilroy's recent flicks), where massive conspiracies of sinister CEOs and their lackies casually plan the death and destruction of anyone resisting their hegemony. Soderbergh shows that, while white-collar culture is hardly above unethical dealings, all it takes is one unscrupulous (or unhinged) man to rip off hundreds of millions of people. In moderate corporate culture, the line between crime and good business is thin, almost nonexistent - if you think about it, capitalism is itself a form of legally ripping off the consumer (that's what I get from reading Marx four straight semesters!). And the line between being a good citizen and a self-interested criminal - as Whiteacre undoubtedly is - is just as shady.

Matt Damon gives a very strong, nuanced central performance. He wisely plays Whiteacre completely straight; the comedy comes from the material more than the actor. A viewer more attentive than I probably could have seen where the story was heading, but Damon and Soderbergh code his gradual downfall in wonderfully subtle ways (for instance, in obscuring key dialogue with Whiteacre's rambling narration); as his lies, he goes from being a scatter-brained but good-natured man, to something far more disturbing. The supporting cast does their work well, particularly Scott Bakula and Joel McHale as Whiteacre's flustered FBI handlers; their goal is to complement Damon's performance and they do this perfectly.

The Informant! is the first out-and-out good film I've seen in theaters since Adventureland, and the best film of 2009 so far. It's certainly unique in its depiction of white-collar crime and corporate indiscretion.