Film Review: The Informant!

I'm always disappointed when the film doesn't match its advertisements, no matter how good the film or important its message. So I have to admit I was a little disappointed with The Informant! because I was expecting a comedy, but got something quite a bit darker.

Had I expected instead to see a smart, suspenseful drama going in, I'm certain I would have enjoyed the experience more. I'm hoping this review will help reset your own expectations, because you really should see this movie.

There are funny moments, to be sure, but, despite some valiant attempts to lighten the mood through quirky music (from Marvin Hamlisch of A Chorus Line) and sometimes amusing and informative voiceovers in inappropriate moments, ultimately what happens is distinctly unfunny.

The film tells of the rise and fall of biotechnologist cum mid-level manager Mark Whitacre, who, through a series of events, becomes an informant for the FBI against his employer, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), one of the world's largest agricultural processors.

Whitacre seeks to expose a global price fixing scheme by high-level managers at ADM. But he exposes more than he planned, and that's where the complications, and to some degree the fun, come in.

(Read the rest at http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/092009a.html.)