Let’s face it and be honest. Steven Soderbergh’s black comedy about a bumbling whistleblower in the agricultural community titled, “The Informant!” looks devilishly arch and mischievously funny.
The trailer looked fantastic and Soderbergh’s wry humor evinced in the underrated “Ocean’s” movies (popcorn art), usually through Matt Damon, were always rather sly in a smart, self-aware goofy manner. “The Informant” felt like it was channeling that vibe throughout, so could it live up to the hype or at least our high expectations?
Basically. Deliriously enjoyable, if a bit slight, “The Informant!” isn’t a masterpiece, nor Soderbergh’s even 4th best work, but considering the director’s tremendously prodigious and prolific output, this is perhaps a given. A zany, fast-moving romp, the tale of unhinged and loony agricultural scientist turned executive turned tattle tale is deliciously amusing and Damon’s tour-de-force performance as a batshit unreliable narrator cum pathological liar is pretty hilarious. He carries the picture, unsurprisingly, but the excellent supporting cast, especially an impressive Melanie Lynskey (perhaps the heart and soul of the madness, she was the other main female lead in “Heavenly Creatures”) also delight (one must also give it up for Joel McHale, Scott Bakula and Tony Hale, whose exasperated disbelief doubles as straight-faced drollery and the audience’s point of view).
If the “Ocean’s” pictures, particularly “Ocean’s 12” were often wacky (as was the experimental, “Schizopolis”), then “The Informant!” is downright ridiculous. Infused with a ’70s-like eccentricity (replete with ’70s title fonts and score), this chronicle of a bi-polar, moronic and bonkers snitch playing both sides swings for the fences, strikingly so, with Marvin Hamlisch’s preposterous and bold kitsch score meant to soundtrack the protagonists full-blown comical delusions.
Pitched somewhere between Woody Allen’s “Bananas,” “Sleeper” and Hal Ashby comedies of the ’70s (“Shampoo,” “Harold & Maude”), it’s a crack-up, but never buffoonish or too off the rails. Though it does come close to ludicrous, it’s certainly not a bad construction in this set-up, as the incessant fabrications do pile-up to some pretty aces relentless comedy.
Sharp-witted and lightning quick (you probably need to see this one twice to get all the gags both loud and subtle — a particular Damon hair maneuver is gut-busting, we won’t spoil it), Soderbergh moves furiously and it’s possible slow-moving contemporary audiences might be left scratching their heads. But there’s an impressive economy to the pace of the picture, not a second is wasted in digression. It propels headlong to its inevitable conclusion and then you’re out before you know it. It’ll be interesting to see how your average moviegoer will react to this one and it’s possible you’ll see some blank stares, but the direction never dumbs down and panders for a second for better or worse.
A full, non-rushed, non-festival written review, by a non-sleep-deprived Playlist contrib tomorrow, but as you can likely tell, “The Informant!” is a total gas. [B]
The picture hits theaters this Friday, September 18. Go and see it so Warner Brothers doesn’t take a bath and us discerning viewers can continue to get some fiercely intelligent pictures in theaters that aren’t just arthouses.