Fans of Matt Damon should like of Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Informant!’ he’s a bit more doughy then usual and he rocks an odd little mustache but he’s what carries this humorous take on Mark Whitacre and the lysine price-fixing conspiracy.

The film is based on true events. I did not read the book and I don’t know much about the incident so I can’t say how well the film stuck to what really happened. But I will say the film tells the story in a way that is very believable.

Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is climbing the ladder at ADM and earning a boat load of money. Mark Whitacre also has has a problem, the lysine his company is supposed to produce is being destroyed by some mysterious bacteria. Whitacre’s been speaking to a shady Japanese business man for a while and it’s he who tells Whitacre that ADM has a mole and that he will reveal the identity of said mole and also provide a solution to the lysine bacteria if ADM will deposit millions into his off shore bank account. As any good employee would Whitacre tells his boss who intern tells the FBI. As the FBI is putting a trace on his phone Mark decides to come clean (sort of), at the insistence of his wife Ginger (Melanie Lynskey). He tells the agent that there is actually a price-fixing conspiracy going on at ADM. The FBI opens an investigation of ADM which thorough the film grows more and more complex due to Whitacre’s habit of omitting certain aspects of the truth.

I liked this film, it was very funny. As stated before, it’s totally a Matt Damon vehicle, he’s in almost ever scene and all the laughs either come from his lines or from his character’s actions. Laughs are plentiful as are plot twists but it’s slower then what I was expecting. In a way it almost felt as if I was watching a very interesting and fact filled documentary about Mark Whitacre and the lysine price-fixing conspiracy. I mean that as a complement.

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Informant!’ it made me laugh out loud several times and I really got to know Mark Whitacre but as for the other characters I think if I had gotten to know them better it would have made Mark Whitacre’s story even more engaging.

‘The Informant!’ hits theaters this Friday and it also stars Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Clancy Brown and Tony Hale

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written by Travis \\ tags: Matt Damon, Review, Steven Soderbergh, The Informant!, TIFF, Travis Fantina