The Bumbling Insider

Director Steven Soderbergh, well…OK, the trailer for his latest, The Informant!, would have you believe that the movie is a non-stop hoot and a half.

It’s not.

Matt Damon packed on the pudge to play Mark Whitacre, the star of this story, based on a tattle-tale, about a whistleblower at an agri-industry giant. (Whitacre was, in fact, the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.)

Too bad for Damon that his award-baiting commitment to the movie (exemplified by the 30 lbs. that cover his hot Jason Bourneness) probably will be overlooked by audiences since The Informant! is the sleepiest movie I’ve seen in a while, one that only wakes up in its last 30 minutes.

Seriously, whomever cut the trailer did the movie a tremendous disservice because what is promised and what is delivered are two very different things. Having said that, though, Damon’s phenomenal.

His character’s a deceiving mofo, and anyone who saw The Talented Mr. Ripley knows that the actor can pull off that quality phenomenally. This time around, comedy’s been added to the mix, so Damon shines. But, he wasn’t quite enough to reconcile the fact that the expectation I had for this movie was hardly met. Yes, this is a movie for grown-ups, as he recently told Letterman. Hearing him say that I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew something is not gelling with the movie….

But, anyway, if you decide to go see The Informant!, know that it’s about a man, a rising star at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), who suddenly turns whistleblower.

That even as he exposes the company’s multi-national price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, he envisions himself being hailed as a hero and handed a promotion. And that before any of that can actually happen, the FBI needs evidence, so he agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a kind of de facto secret agent.

“[I’m] Mark Whitacre, secret agent. 0014,” he says with the straightest of faces. “Because I’m twice as smart as 007.”

Not!

Indeed, he isn’t, which is unfortunate for the FBI, especially once they learn that their main witness hasn’t been quite so forthcoming about helping himself to the corporate coffers.

Part of the fun of the movie is that you never know when Whitacre’s lying or telling the truth.

Too bad I wasn’t laughing.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.