Director Steven Soderbergh made his name in Hollywood via his Sex, Lies & Videotape and eventually reached the top of the A-list with the Ocean’s Eleven franchise.  With Matt Damon on board as big business whistle-blower Mark Whitacre in his new film, Soderbergh essentially mimics another pair of A-list directors.  If you ever wondered what would happen if Steven were to try his hand at being a third Coen brother, in The Informant you have your answer.  The attempts at humor, straightforward directorial style, the confusing narrative or at least difficult to decipher plot, all reek of Coen with varying degrees of success.

Based on a true story, Damon’s Whitacre is an Ivy-League educated Ph.D for Archer Daniels Midland, ADM for short, an Ag-business company that is one of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list. Whitacre was the highest-ranking executive in US history to ever blow the whistle on his company, calling them in for price-fixing tactics.  Why would someone so successful do this?  Call him crazy.  Amid increasing pressure at his company and homestead, Whitacre hatches a scheme to expose ADM’s wrongdoings and reap the rewards by moving up the chain of command there as a result.  A strange notion for one to have to say the least, which grants you insight into Whitacre’s entangled thought process.

Wearing a wire for the feds for much of the film, the film tracks Whitacre and his meetings with ADM execs on both foreign and domestic soil during the several year long process in which his case gets turned on its ear.  Through his hundreds of hours and both video and audio taped sessions, we see Whitacre expose himself as much as he does the hierarchy at his company.  What ensues is a twisted “who done it” genre film with characterizations in the vain of the Coen’s Intolerable Cruelty, one of the brothers notable attempts at the big time that failed.  This is Michael Mann’s The Insider, another movie about a big time whistle-blower, turned on it’s back as Soderbergh tries to, unsuccessfully for the most part, play it for laughs.

"It is a long, brown growler in the form of a snake."

Damon once again proves his mettle and rank as being among the best actors of our generation, excelling as the pudgy, know-it-all scientist, but the film fails to truly capture your imagination.  For most of the movie Damon’s Whitacre talks faster than Will Hunting did in his infamous “club a baby seal” scene.  He always delivers his lines straight and believes everything he is saying, even when he knows he is lying.  The film basically devolves into a dissection of trying to figure out when he is telling the truth. Unfortunately, even in the very last frame of the film, we really don’t see Whitacre become what we hope he will.  It’s a bit of an eerie, depressing feeling, considering all that he goes through.

There is some fun to be had, like when Whitacre has to move his foreign counterparts from blocking a spy-camera during a deal meet.  Or when Whitacre, strapped with his wire, talks out loud to himself detailing “who is saying what” to the agents listening in on his tap.  Damon also gives us his voiceover thoughts in various spots elaborating what is on screen.  This can all be slightly amusing but never hilarious.  It seems like The Informant is swinging for the fences and coming up short.  It’s just a ground rule double instead of a home run.

Scott Bakula (TV’s “Quantum Leap”) and Joel McHale (E!’s “Talk Soup” host) play FBI agents Brian Shepard and Robert Herndon who attempt to crack the case and make it big for the government.  They try to encapsulate a bumbling idiot alternate reality to their characters but their believability falls short.  With Shepard, Whitacre creates a relationship of trust and confidence, only to strip it all away as the film wears on.  You watch but don’t participate enough, never really being able to identify with Whitacre.  Once you see stand-up comedian, come part-time actor Patton Oswalt playing a straight arrow attorney, you know what Soderbergh is shooting for here.  To wit, there is no question that Soderbergh has made his Coen homage here.

"I'm Mark Whitacre and I approve this smile."

The visual style that has helped make Soderbergh a favorite of mine isn’t evident either.  I like my Soderbergh in the more cool vain, with unique camera techniques, as seen in films past like The Limey and Out Of Sight.  The only hints of the director that I know were a few smaller cast members that are identifiable to the keen eye and some wide-angle static shots that break up the surprisingly swift pace of the film.

For a while I thought that the set and costume design were off by about a decade.  Even for a film that takes place largely between the years of 1991-95, I didn’t want to accept that there was complete accuracy in the clothing renditions.  Whitacre and company rock paisley ties and lay on floral patterned couches. However, upon further reflection, I suppose that they were accurate to within 5 years or so anyway, and given that the films primary location is rural Illinois, I can believe the level of precision even more so, considering the Midwest is behind the coasts in fashion and trends for the most part anyway.

The film has some relevancy in these difficult economic times, as at its core is big business taking advantage of “the system.”  This isn’t a bad movie, it even has some moments of enjoyment (mostly through Damon’s performance), but it is alarmingly unimaginative from a director who only a decade ago seemed like he was going to be the next big thing.  Now you start to wonder if his check cashing through a triumvirate of Ocean’s films was really a plea that he has lost his creative juices.  I sincerely hope not, but with The Informant you can’t help but yearn for something more…informed.  The film runs a rather brisk 90 minutes but in the end leaves you with more questions than answers.