I have been traveling and enjoying a good old fashioned cold so I haven’t been to many movies lately. But I thought you might want my take on The Informant, whose box office hasn’t been stellar for a Matt Damon movie, directed by Stephen Soderburgh. Here goes:
The Informant (Matt Damon) — Adding to this year’s list of quirky movies is the corporate espionage movie that feels like a comedy but is actually a sting. I feel reasonable comfortable telling you this even if you haven’t seen it because it does resemble The Sting in a number of waysm starting with the Marvin Hamlisch soundtrack. This one is original, not Scott Joplin’s. But the acting is almost as good in this one with Matt Damon proving again his versatility. Having gained about 30 pounds to play this apparent everyman who is a top executive of his firm, Damon has clearly become one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. An Oscar winner for his script for Good Will Hunting, his has excelled at acting in serious roles (The Good Shepherd), action parts (the Bourne series), ensembles (the Oceans series), and great stories The Talented Mr. Ripley, Good Will Hunting, Courage Under Fire). Here, Damon decides to turn his bosses and himself in for fixing prices with foreign countries. He turns informant and a particularly inept one. His cohorts seem clueless about the potential that they might be caught. Mark Whitacre lays the trap, wears a wire, and reveals layers that hadn’t been evident previously. Just as clueless are the FBI agents in the sticks that “run the case,” led by an agent played by Scott Bakula, largely a TV actor. As the story unfolds, it is evident that all is not quite what it seems but every time the story turns, there is that light, fun, music from another day to keep it light. The soundtrack reminded me of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the second Thomas Crown Affair but it is designed to make you feel good as you get sucked into the film. This is a very good film from Director Stephen Soderbuergh (Damon’s director in the Ocean’s trilogy) whose only fault is that it isn’t what you expect, misled as we all were by the trailers. Don’t let that keep you away.