juneebuggy This was not good. Described as a "quirky comedy-crime film" I was bored throughout following a puffed up Matt Damon in the role of informant for the FBI, who after discovering that his company is involved in price fixing (and convinced he'll be a hero) wears a wire to gather the evidence needed to convict his bosses. This is based on a true story and the case becomes threatened when it turns out that Mark Whitacre is also a compulsive liar and embezzler.I'm not even sure how to review this, the story was convoluted, random, long winded, and had a Farrelly brothers vibe to it, (but not in a good way) including a distracting (terrible) soundtrack. I will say that Matt Damon did a good job here though. He is a chunky monkey, wearing bad clothes and sporting a terrible 80's moustache, who as a character is all over the place; paranoid, angry, accusing, nerdy, comical, intense and a big fat liar.I think my favorite part of this (long) movie was the ongoing voice-over where we get to hear the random internal dialogue going through Mark's head, and wow does he have some obscure thoughts, often hilarious.1/26/15

PopCulturedwithMovieMike Matt Damon proves once again that he is the most versatile actor in Hollywood. I'm not sure any other actor can play a psycho in The Talented Mr. Ripley, a butt kicking action hero in the Bourne trilogy, an all around good guy in the Oceans' trilogy and a villain playing both sides in The Departed. In the Informant, he adds another character to his arsenal. Mark Whitacre, a white collar company man who gets caught up in corporate conspiracy. Or does he? Matt Damon plays Whitacre so perfectly you're never quite sure if Whitacre is a naive white collar schlub, a genius mastermind or just a guy who is seriously mentally disturbed. In fact, it could be a combination of all three. Matt Damon's superb performance doesn't mean the Informant is a great film. For a film that's supposed to be a comedy, it never quite elicits more than a chuckle in a few scenes. This is kind of disturbing for the simple fact that The Informant is bursting at the seems with comedians/comedic actors. Patton Oswalt, Joel McHale, Tony Hale, The Smothers Brothers, Melanie Lynskey, Paul F. Tompkins and many more I'm either forgetting or just didn't recognize. I'm not sure I see the point of casting comedians if they are never allowed to say anything funny. The Informant is a good film, jut not a great film. If it wasn't for Damon's performance, it would have been rated a lot lower. It's somewhat uneven and slow in parts. Its failure to provoke laughter means I can't give it more than a 70%.

Andrew Christopher Heard Back in 2009, one of the first films that I went to see at the Toronto International Film Festival was The Informant, starring Matt Damon and Scott Bakula. I had never really checked out a film festival before and so the experience itself was rather strange. It's interesting then that one of my first films at the festival was a pretty strange film itself. First and foremost is the fact that Matt Damon almost disappears into the role of Mark Whitacre as a bio-chemist at a middle-American corn producer known as ADM.There are a number of actors who can't really move beyond their fame. Actors like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro and Woody Harrelson are the kind of actors who I can only ever see as the actors they are and not the roles that they play. There are exceptions to that rule, for instance, Woody Harrelson in 'Defendor', Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in 'Fight Club', and George Clooney as Everett McGill in 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Matt Damon on the other hand can sometimes be a bit of a wild card in the roles that he takes. Roles like 'Dogma' or 'Ocean's 11', while incredible, are roles in which he seems to have been cast for the fact of his status as an actor whereas a role like Jason Bourne or Will Hunting, he finds a way to disappear into the role he is playing and you almost forget who he is.I would put 'The informant' in the category of one where he disappears, the subtle way in which he portrays a nervous yet simple man who believes in doing the right thing despite his co-workers views of things and business practises is nothing short of brilliant. But the portrayal is not the only good thing about the film. As the story progresses, you start to realize that things are not entirely what they seem in the world Mark Whitacre inhabits. This begins a series of twists and turns to the plot that would normally be seen in a crime drama or a political thriller but feels right at home in this rather strange and quiet comedy.Perhaps it's the fact that so many of the characters seem genuine and honest in the way they deal with the situation at hand, the question of price fixing in the international markets of corn, that makes some of the eventual betrayals so damning and difficult to watch yet so very funny at the same time. The film ultimately becomes one in which there is no clear bad guy in all of it. Not because people haven't done something wrong, but because you end up caring about the characters despite what they've done. None of the characters really seem underhanded or angry in what they do. Perhaps that's why when things start to go wrong you don't really see it coming.So much about this movie is understated and unexpected. From the acting to the camera work and the storytelling, which I think is what makes it work so well. This isn't a movie about clear lines between right and wrong, or good versus bad. It's about people, and the way in which people go wrong in their pursuit of success.Would you hire The Informant? I probably wouldn't, but I would definitely hire the people who made the film.To check out more of my reviews, go here:http://andrew-heard.blogspot.ca/

petrey-connor The Informant! really didn't start off great. Voice-over? Wow just having seen Fight Club, the voice-over in this was dull. I understand at times that's what it's trying to do and yes it's funny but it's not until about 50 minutes in when the film gets interesting and very fascinating. That's near when a twist occurs and that's where the unexpected ending happens. In all the film is funny yet very dull. I purchased it on bluray for 5 dollars and I recommend you do the same. It's a good deal. But don't yell at me when you don't like the end. Just look for Tony Hale, the brother from Arrested Development and when you do that's when to get excited because things JUST GOT INTERESTING! I give it a 7 out of 10