A brief review for MATT DAMON! in...
THE INFORMANT! (2009)
This hadn't really been on my radar until I started seeing the commercials for it flood the air over the last couple weeks. A strong feeling of "Burn After Reading" rocked my soul, and since I thoroughly enjoyed said theatrical adventure, "The Informant" had made its way to my cinematic horizon.
"The Informant!" is a dark comedy; a flick that exposes big business and the buffoonery behind it. When Mark Whitacre (Damon) supposedly busts open a lead on a mole in the company, he seeks out the help of FBI agents Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale) before leading them on a wild goose chase that sends Whitacre to his own demise.
Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh provides a workman-like dark corporate comedy, though unfortunately, it fails to reach the same stratosphere of entertainment as the superior Coen Bros. flick "Burn After Reading." Despite an intricate and Crichton-esque narrative, as well as some jocular interludes of stream-of-consciousness from Damon, "The Informant!," like "Funny People" before it, fails to find its feet and, in the end, lacks a sense of identity and importance.
Despite being totally absurdist and in-your-face ironic, "The Informant!" is a dark comedy that doesn't satisfy as much as others before it. Though the upped intelligence quotient from your typical, run-of-the-mill Will Ferrell "comedy" is laudable and Damon's eccentric, quirky performance steals the show, the film tended to find itself mired in ironic plot twists and a general sense of bipolarism that held it back from reaching a very attainable level of greatness.
You could do worse this weekend, though. Much, much, much worse. You could see the new Tyler Perry movie.
B-
"The Informant!" is a dark comedy; a flick that exposes big business and the buffoonery behind it. When Mark Whitacre (Damon) supposedly busts open a lead on a mole in the company, he seeks out the help of FBI agents Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale) before leading them on a wild goose chase that sends Whitacre to his own demise.
Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh provides a workman-like dark corporate comedy, though unfortunately, it fails to reach the same stratosphere of entertainment as the superior Coen Bros. flick "Burn After Reading." Despite an intricate and Crichton-esque narrative, as well as some jocular interludes of stream-of-consciousness from Damon, "The Informant!," like "Funny People" before it, fails to find its feet and, in the end, lacks a sense of identity and importance.
Despite being totally absurdist and in-your-face ironic, "The Informant!" is a dark comedy that doesn't satisfy as much as others before it. Though the upped intelligence quotient from your typical, run-of-the-mill Will Ferrell "comedy" is laudable and Damon's eccentric, quirky performance steals the show, the film tended to find itself mired in ironic plot twists and a general sense of bipolarism that held it back from reaching a very attainable level of greatness.
You could do worse this weekend, though. Much, much, much worse. You could see the new Tyler Perry movie.
B-
