“The INFORMANT” (Matt Damon & Scott Bakula)
Odd little flick here; not nearly as humorous as the trailer made it seem – in fact, it takes a rather dark twist along the way - & for some reason; one that I can’t quite put my finger on, I still liked it. I guess for being off the wall & not your ‘run of the mill’ whistle-blower story, but yet, there was something missing - it didn't 'sizzle'.
I have nothing bad to say about the movie except the ‘background’ music – it was hideous! Here’s a film that is mainly set in the 1990’s & Marvin HAMlisch’s soundtrack consists of early-60’s ‘cheese’ (ALA ‘Austin Powers’) Plus, it was over-bearing; instead of subtly playing in the background, it kept screaming “Listen to me! Listen to how perky & cheesy I am!” Which begs the question – Why is Marvin Hamlisch still writing soundtracks? Didn’t he peak with ‘The Sting’ when he stole Scott Joplin’s music?
Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a company nerd who fears for his job security so he turns to the FBI when asked to perform duties that Whitacre deems to be illegal.
Scott Bakula plays FBI agent Shepard with such blandness I think he actually put himself to sleep in a couple of scenes. I was looking forward to Seattle native & 'The Soup' host Joel McHale’s appearance as Bakula’s partner and he made me long for his better TV performances as well.
But this is Damon’s vehicle & he does a decent job of driving it from start to finish. The film is about a boring businessman attempting to bring some excitement into his life, and he does succeed at doing that – So I don’t know if I just got tired of Damon’s character’s innocuous screw-ups or that I didn’t ‘buy’ Mark as being a ‘true to life’ person – Could anybody be this stupid & naive & keep a relatively important job? As Mark is presenting the Feds with information that will bring the company he works for crashing to bankruptcy, he asks, “I’ll still be able to keep my job after all this comes down, right? I mean, they’re going to need someone like me to help build up the business again, won’t they?”
Just prior to entering an elevator to attend a meeting with various lawyers, Mark says, “Look, I was lying to you guys before, but I’m going to set the record straight when we get upstairs.”
Other than the background music I don’t have anything negative to say about the film; it was mildly amusing throughout, but the humor didn’t ‘crackle’ (If that makes any sense). It was a fairly interesting plot & yet I felt bored at times.
Decent cast; Rick Overton as Mark’s business associate Terry & Tom Papa as the boss (because his Papa owns the company) are both adequate. I don’t know if it’s just because I was expecting it to be off the wall funny and instead it becomes off the wall serious (While Mark reamins a moron)
They make it very clear up front that ‘The Informant’ is BASED on a true story & that some portions of the plot & dialogue were ‘made up’ to enhance the film... I wondered if they made up the funny parts or the boring parts?
5 comments:
After I saw the film, I went on Wikipedia and looked up information on Whitacre. He was a consultant on the set of the film. The guy is smart. But he embezzeled while he was wire tapping. He has admited to having manic depression in the past and is now tempered those compulsive and erratic thoughts with meds. He did 8 years in prison but is now a CEO again with another company. He's so good at what he does his services are invaluable. Kind of like how the CIA got the guy to hire and help consult them ( Frank Abangale ) find counterfitters because he was so good at that too. Whitacre is already a millionaire again. That would never happen to a blue collar felon.
I was impressed with Matt Damon's portrayal. Acting wise, he does a pretty good disappearing act as Damon the " actor ". I don't remember him ever going that deep into a character before. He should be in the possibility list when people are talking Best Actor Oscar. At least be in the consideration. This could be his year. You know how when a actor gets nominated sometimes for solid work they have done in one year ( Hoffman, Downey Jr., Foxx to name a few ) because a lot of people seem to think he stands a good chance in the supporting actor category as well in Invictus, as the South African rugby coach ( from what I have read in Empire that is )
Damon is pretty good. The movie I thought was OK. Nothing to write home about. I don't believe it will get a best picture nomination. Damon could though. This performance rivals his other two best roles in Mr. Ripley and Rounders. He impressed me in this part and I pretty much think he is a pretty average actor. Not bad by a longshot, but not great either. The is the best at being believable as someone else. And I'll give any actor credit when they are in nearly every scene. That has to be exhausting and not to mention all the lines a person in nearly every scene has to remember and pull it off.
Double echo the previous two comments on Damon. Best role yet. He might not squeeze in the top five for Best Actor as there will be performances by Viggo Mortensen, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Edward Norton, Christopher Plummer ( The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy ) Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, Michael Stuhlbarg, Willem Dafoe, Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro to name only several that will be in the mix of discussion at the end of the year. Damon might stand a better chance in the Mandela movie Invictus in a support role. If he did get nominated though for Best Actor, I probably wouldn't have a problem with it.
The movie was good but not great as Terry mentions. I personally would have liked to see the other side to the story, which is the true one.
I would have made it like a 3 act play. His time wiretapping ( and embezzling )period, then his conviction and jail time, and finally what he does to come back into the game as a high ranking white collar man again and addressing some of his mental problems, all edited and cut into a tight 2 hour film.
Wow, I didn't think my review would lead one to believe I found 'The Informant' to be 'great'; I would have thought 'above average' at best.
Damon was very good - the story was interesting - & I didn't see the 'twist' coming at all. But the other actors didn't bowl me over & I mentioned right off the top that there was something 'missing' that kept this film from being 'great'.
On movie luva's acting comment; I take it from Hoffman, you mean Philip Seymour's win & not Dustin's, right? But I have to disagree with you; PSH & RDJr. are great actors who have been excellent in many roles throughout their careers - to say they won because they had a good 'year' is a bit of an insult to them. With Foxx, I have no idea how he was even nominated, yet alone won...
Still, you all made some good points. Thanks.
Yes Terry I meant Seymour Hoffman ( The Savages, BTDKYD, Charlie Wilson's War ). And though it's not set in stone, many actors have have recieved Oscar nominations for having done well in one year in more than one movie.
The year Foxx won for Ray, I thought he deserved the suppoerting nomination in Collateral.
I saw on one site where Damon is predicted in both categories for The Informant! and Invictus. But like the other person posted, it's going to be a pretty thick category in lead actor. I'm actually looking forward to seeing Robert De Niro in Everybody's Fine. I here it's a return to form ( in other words- he cares about the role and making a good effort )
The Viggo role as the man in The Road looks like he went through hell to make that movie, and Norton doing double duty playing two different people should be interesting to see. I wish I knew more about the role Penn plays in Tree Of Life. You can never get any info from a Terrence Malick film until it almost gets released. The female lead category looks weak though this year. What is it about the Carey Mulligan performance that everyone is already saying she should win the Oscar in An Education ? I didn't see anything in the trailer that jumped out at me saying " awesome ". Will be seeing Amelia in a couple of weeks and see if Swank is nomination worthy in that. The obese fat girl in Precious ? Just because you are obese that makes you a great actress ? Don't get that at all. I hope WithinThe Whirlwind gets a release. Now that looks like a performance to be seen. Emily looks impressive. Meryl in Julie and Julia ? I'll wait for It's Complicated.
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