The Informant! (2009)

The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre.

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers:

Scott Z. Burns (screenplay), Kurt Eichenwald (book)

Stars:

Matt Damon, Lucas McHugh Carroll, Tony Hale

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Mark Whitacre
Lucas McHugh Carroll	...	Alexander Whitacre (as Lucas Carroll)
Eddie Jemison	...	Kirk Schmidt
Rusty Schwimmer	...	Liz Taylor
Craig Ricci Shaynak	...	Discouraged Foreman
Tom Papa	...	Mick Andreas
Rick Overton	...	Terry Wilson
Melanie Lynskey	...	Ginger Whitacre
Thomas F. Wilson	...	Mark Cheviron (as Tom Wilson)
Scott Bakula	...	FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard
Scott Adsit	...	Sid Hulse
Ann Dowd	...	FBI Special Agent Kate Medford
Allan Havey	...	FBI Special Agent Dean Paisley
Howie Johnson	...	Rusty Williams
Joel McHale	...	FBI Special Agent Bob Herndon

Storyline

Mark Whitacre has worked for lysine developing company ADM for many years and has even found his way into upper management. But nothing has prepared him for the job he is about to undertake - being a spy for the FBI. Unwillingly pressured into working as an informant against the illegal price-fixing activities of his company, Whitacre gradually adopts the idea that he's a true secret agent. But as his incessant lies keep piling up, his world begins crashing down around him.

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Plot Keywords:

company | price fixing | informant | spy | lysine | 

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Taglines:

matt damon is The Informant!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 September 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

El desinformante

Filming Locations:

Blue Mound, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£179,612 (UK) (20 November 2009)

Gross:

$33,313,582 (USA) (11 December 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Participant Media, Groundswell Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Whitacre's internal monologue about a great idea for a TV show where a man calls his house and hears himself answer the phone is part of the plot of 'Steven Soderberg''s own movie Schizopolis (1996).

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Goofs

The film takes place from 1992-1994, yet the cars have Illinois license plates that first appeared in 2001.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mark Whitacre: [voiceover] You know that orange juice you have every morning? You know what's in that? Corn. And you know what's in the maple syrup you put on your pancakes? You know what makes it taste so good? Corn. And when you're good and help with the trash, you know what makes the big, green bags biodegradable?
Mark Whitacre: [to his son] Do you?
Alexander Whitacre: Uh-huh. Corn.
Mark Whitacre: Corn *starch*. But Daddy's company didn't come up with that one. DuPont did.

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Crazy Credits

Prologue: "While this motion picture is based on real events, certain incidents and characters are composites, and dialog has been dramatized. So there."

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Connections

References Gilligan's Island: The Invasion (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Trust Me"
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Produced and Performed by Steve Tyrell
Steve Tyrell appears courtesy of E1 Music

User Reviews

Your White Hat is a bit Dirty

Greetings again from the darkness. Steven Soderbergh is a genius with a camera. Just admiring the shots, angles and movement of the camera in his films is worth the price of admission. Here we get a fact-based story from the book by Kurt Eichenwald showing us what happened when Mark Whitacre became one of the most famous corporate whistle-blowers of all time ... he exposed price-fixing at Archer Daniels Midland, the ag-giant.

Matt Damon takes this quasi-caricature and turns him into a comedy act along the lines of Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar. OK, I'll admit, there is more subtlety here than in that one. Still, the voice-overs by Damon's character provide the ramblings of a madman - an ADD, embezzling madman.

There is so much comedy here that it is easy to forget what heinous crimes the senior management of this company actually committed - and how arrogant to think they could get away with it. This again shows that many in the corporate world are the equals of even the most corrupt politicians. Power and Greed are all-consuming.

While, I don't know the details of the real story, it was interesting to watch Whitacre's interacting/playing with the FBI agents (Scott Bacula and Joel McHale). They want to believe him and are actually crushed when his game is exposed.

A real Soderbergh touch is the casting of both Smothers Brothers in unrelated roles. Very nice. It is very difficult for me to believe that someone as intelligent and shrewd as Whitacre could actually be so, well, goofy. But it does add an entertainment element to the film. I will say it is not at the level of far superior "The Insider" or even "Catch Me if You Can", but it is quite watchable.