An awesome tour-de-force portrayal of cultivated blandness, Matt Damon's brilliant depiction of scientist-turned-corporate exec-turned-FBI-informant-turned-uber-fraudster Mark Whitacre is what makes this movie so enjoyable.
Like starting a tractor on a cold Illinois morning, "The Informant!" takes a while to feel like it really gets started. Surprisingly the first act kind of meanders through Whitacre's decision to whistleblow against his employer and record price-fixing meetings with various competitors. This is kind of funny and Whitacre handles these situations fairly well.
Whitacre's internal ADD-esquire mental perambulations - constantly voiced-over throughout the movie - are sometimes distracting, sometimes funny, sometimes informative, sometimes strange. The enthusiasm that Damon brings to portraying Whitacre doesn't really necessitate the voice-overs - we have all the characterization and insight we need into his personality - but it does set a kind of tone that works.
What is most hilarious is how simultaneously clueless and brilliant Whitacre seems to be. On the one hand he seems incredibly stupid but on the other it seems like he's really just putting up a facade to fool everyone. This facade appears to be attributable - later - to Whitacre's undiagnosed bipolar disorder, but one could argue that Whitacre had really been leading everyone along anyway.
Whitacre - an Ivy League-educated PhD. in biochemistry (in real life, no kidding) - is not REALLY stupid, he just can't explain himself without over (over OVER) explaining everything to everyone. He just really can't shut up. He can't help himself. That's what's most hilarious: Whitacre is unable to control how he must tell everyone everything yet he was also somehow able to substantively keep 2+ years of undercover FBI work - work he was not in any way trained for - under wraps. All the other stuff - don't want to give too much away - explodes in his face. It's terrible and funny at the same time.
Damon gained a substantial amount of weight for the movie (the lean, athletic Jason Bourne is NOT in evidence here), modulates his voice to have more of a Midwestern feel, and puts a nub on the end of his nose - and transforms himself, really, into Whitacre. He's quite good and is showing himself to be an actor of the first order.
If you can be patient through the somewhat slow first act, The Informant! is fun to watch and I can guarantee you'll probably have your mouth agape at least 3 times just going through Whitacre's numerous antics.
Like starting a tractor on a cold Illinois morning, "The Informant!" takes a while to feel like it really gets started. Surprisingly the first act kind of meanders through Whitacre's decision to whistleblow against his employer and record price-fixing meetings with various competitors. This is kind of funny and Whitacre handles these situations fairly well.
Whitacre's internal ADD-esquire mental perambulations - constantly voiced-over throughout the movie - are sometimes distracting, sometimes funny, sometimes informative, sometimes strange. The enthusiasm that Damon brings to portraying Whitacre doesn't really necessitate the voice-overs - we have all the characterization and insight we need into his personality - but it does set a kind of tone that works.
What is most hilarious is how simultaneously clueless and brilliant Whitacre seems to be. On the one hand he seems incredibly stupid but on the other it seems like he's really just putting up a facade to fool everyone. This facade appears to be attributable - later - to Whitacre's undiagnosed bipolar disorder, but one could argue that Whitacre had really been leading everyone along anyway.
Whitacre - an Ivy League-educated PhD. in biochemistry (in real life, no kidding) - is not REALLY stupid, he just can't explain himself without over (over OVER) explaining everything to everyone. He just really can't shut up. He can't help himself. That's what's most hilarious: Whitacre is unable to control how he must tell everyone everything yet he was also somehow able to substantively keep 2+ years of undercover FBI work - work he was not in any way trained for - under wraps. All the other stuff - don't want to give too much away - explodes in his face. It's terrible and funny at the same time.
Damon gained a substantial amount of weight for the movie (the lean, athletic Jason Bourne is NOT in evidence here), modulates his voice to have more of a Midwestern feel, and puts a nub on the end of his nose - and transforms himself, really, into Whitacre. He's quite good and is showing himself to be an actor of the first order.
If you can be patient through the somewhat slow first act, The Informant! is fun to watch and I can guarantee you'll probably have your mouth agape at least 3 times just going through Whitacre's numerous antics.