Brandon: I've always had a special place in my heart for Steven Soderbergh films. He has a real knack for filming fast-paced dialogue. Although it's just a couple of actors talking, he's able to capture it in such a way as to emphasize multiple layers of meaning, build tension in the scene, and bring out the humor of the situation brilliantly. That's why I was so excited to finally see his latest film come to DVD - The Informant!
Jenni: I've also been a fan of Soderbergh's films over the years. Although he's had a few less-than-awesome movies released with his name above them (I'm looking at you, horrible Oceans 11 sequels), for the most part, his movies win critical acclaim, and box office dollars (I'm looking at you, original Oceans 11 remake and Traffic). The various trailers for The Informant! made it seem like this would be another awesome and hilarious Soderbergh hit. But, oh, how wrong we were....
Brandon: The Informant! stars Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, the government's star witness in a price-fixing lawsuit against a global business giant. The trailers imply that this film will have all of the fast-paced dialogue and quirky characters that we've come to love and expect from Soderbergh. And, in that regard, we got what we expected. Matt Damon does a great job as a goofy undercover informant who thinks of himself as a super-spy. However, I wasn't prepared for the many layers of corporate intrigue that seemed to weight this movie down. It was two hours of talk about kickbacks, embezzlement, and courtroom politics.
Jenni: I suppose we should have known this wasn't going to be a drama about robbing casinos or the dark world of drug trafficking, but I wasn't at all expecting a procedural drama about how to build a government lawsuit. I agree that Matt Damon was great as the starry-eyed super-spy wannabe, but his amusing performance wasn't enough to keep me interested in what was going on. In fact, while I cared about his character at the beginning of the film and wanted to see how he was going to bring down the corporate baddies, by end of the film I just wanted him to get what was coming to him. Anything to make this movie end.
Brandon: I think you summed things up pretty well there. For all of those Matt Damon fans out there, you'll enjoy his performance in The Informant! But for everyone else that wants to see a comedy, or a drama, or any movie where anything remotely interesting happens, you'll want to rent Oceans 11 or Traffic instead, and skip The Informant! And with that, the snobs are out. Peace!
You can watch the trailer for The Informant! here.
I had a desire to see this movie after viewing the trailer but not enough of a desire to see it in the theater. Finally, stuck in an airplane on a 10 hour flight, I sat back and watched the film. The beginning was alright, I liked the inner monologue of Matt Damon's character, "How do Polar Bears know their noses are black?". But then the story just started to drag and drag and by the time it got to the court scenes I took the head phones off and read a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI actually really liked this movie. It wasn't as funny and face-paced as I was expecting, but it definitely delivered! Matt Damon was hilarious and the plot like was, not only entertaining, but really interesting and informative in it's own way.
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