DVD Reviews

The Informant! – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Mar 1, 2010, 14:25 GMT

A RISING STAR AT AGRI-INDUSTRY GIANT ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND WHITACRE SUDDENLY TURNS WHISTLEBLOWER. EVEN AS HE EXPOSES HIS COMPANY\'S MULTI-NATIONAL PRICE-FIXING CONSPIRACY TO THE FBI, WHITACRE ENVISIONS HIMSELF BEING HAILED AS A HERO OF THE COMMON MAN AND HANDED A PROMOTION. ...more

Though based on a true story, you begin to wonder how much of this nuttiness is actually true.  Actually, the loony way the world works this may all be all too true - that may make it into more of a horror movie than the filmmakers imagined.  

Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is a high level executive at ADM (Arthur Daniels Midland); a Decatur, Illinois based agricultural company that has international ties.  In 1992, Whitacre approaches his upper management that some industrial espionage is occurring from a Japanese firm. 

The FBI is summoned to his home to plant some wiretapping devices on his corporate line.  When agent Shepherd (Scott Bakula) arrives and installs the bugging device, Whitacre asks to speak to him privately.  What he reveals to the agent is that ADM has been involved in price fixing. 

Agent Herndon (Joel McHale) is also brought into the case and the trio set about gathering covert information about this international scandal over a three year period.  The problem arises that Whitacre is a less-than-reliable agent and some of the espionage may be only in his disturbed cranium.  

It’s really frightening that the Informant (exclamation mark!) is based on a true story.  Mark Whitacre is based on a real ADM employee who did his prison time and is now the COO of Cisco Systems!  What’s frightening is that someone who has such problems can rise into the seat of higher power, he actually never got to be CEO of ADM, and no one seems to notice that they’re a bit off. 

Maybe these folks are just good at hiding their mental problems.  Whitacre was diagnosed with bipolar disorder so that probably accounts for his delusions of grandeur, but his hardworking and intelligent demeanor were what hid it for so long. 

What the Informant film shows us is that we’re faced with an unreliable narrator who throws in bits of business that don’t make much sense to the unfolding of the plot, though they’re darkly humorous. 

Matt Damon bulks up to portray the pudgy executive and does so with a naïveté that’s somewhat charming.  Whitacre sees himself as the savior of ADM and surely the board will elevate him to CEO when they hear how, with his spying and wiretapping, he exposed the scandal.  Well, not really as the board would probably had liked these events to not have seen the light of day and Whitacre ends up getting the exact opposite of what his hopes were. 

The film is darkly humorous and although you won’t be laughing out loud at 0014’s (he’s twice as smart as 007) antics they’ll either leave a smile on your face or at least a perplexed look as to how he got away with it for so long.  I swear it’s a true story!  You trust me, right?  Also look for the Tom and Dick Smothers in cameos that only add an anti-establishment pedigree to the film.  

The Informant(!) is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include 6 minutes of deleted scenes.  

I’m a reliable narrator, right?  I mean I do fly around the world on M&C dime, have a palatial office, and my private butler/valet/bottle washer takes care of all my other needs.  You know a person who has been called “even handsomer than Brad Pitt and in much better shape” should have such amenities.  That couldn’t all be in my head…. Could it? 

Such is the madness of the Informant (note Damon’s beatific naïve look on the cover) that our narrator is entirely unreliable and full of beans.  However, Damon does have a pudgy charm until the house of cards starts to tumble down upon him.  It’s a fine acting job.  

Visit the DVD database for more information.