The Informant!: Good Ol’ Soderbergh

Few filmmakers boast a more intriguing track record than Steven
Soderbergh, a restlessly intelligent, ferociously inventive director so
determined not to get stuck in a rut that he’s in danger of falling
into a… well, a bit of a rut. Capitalizing on the success of the
Ocean’s Eleven franchise, Soderbergh has launched into a series
of technically impressive, slightly chilly movies that, for all their
positives, sometimes seem like their first priority is to play outside
of his comfort zone. Momentary detour or not, the satirical
whistle-blower saga The Informant! seems like a return to
confident, deceptively sleek form. Featuring a steadily mounting
shaggy-dog plot and a majestically nerdish turn by Matt Damon, it feels
of a piece with the Soderbergh who so effortlessly batted for the cycle
with Out of Sight, The Limey, Traffic, and Erin
Brockovich at the beginning of the decade. Also, the Marvin
Hamlisch score rocks balls.

Adapting Kurt Eichenwald’s nonfiction bestseller, Scott Z. Burns’s
script follows Mark Whitacre (Damon), a dweebish, toupeed Illinois
agricultural VP whose oft-stated admiration of Crichton and Grisham
novels hints at a rich fantasy life. Contacted by the FBI over a minor
matter, he quickly spills the beans on a worldwide price-fixing
conspiracy, quickly affixing himself as a James Bond–ish paragon
of virtue at the center of the investigation. Then things get
weird.

Plotwise, it’s difficult to say much more without giving away the
good stuff, but the escalating absurdist content is matched at every
turn by the film’s form. With the (affectionate, not condescending) use
of Midwestern locations and extras, the
not-as-distracting-as-they-probably-should-be likes of comedians such
as Joel McHale and Patton Oswalt in supporting roles, and some riotous
use of voice-over narration, this hellaciously entertaining movie
points to a moviemaker fully in the zone. Change is good and all, but
can this guy stick around for a bit?