REELGUY'S REEL REVIEW: "The Informant!" an Oscar-platform for Matt Damon and director Soderbergh

Matt Damon ("Bourne" series) is in Oscar territory with his performance of the hard-not-to-like yet peculiar businessman Mark Whitacre, in director Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!". The skilled director of "Traffic" and the "Ocean’s" series sets just the right whimsical tone to a story based on true events. The humor flows from Damon's immersive performance as the guy who does everything wrong, even when he tries to do what he thinks is right. The supporting characters are played straight, to better emphasize how strange Whitacre is. There is a gentle wink and nod by the filmmaker throughout the film, from the choice of music to the inclusion of scenes which constantly reinterpret Whitacre's version of the truth. "The Informant!" is an entertaining biographical picture, played for laughs but with just the right amount of sobriety to get across the seriousness of the situation; a seriousness which everyone in the picture understands but the main character.

Whitacre is a rising businessman at the multinational corporation, Archer Midland Daniels, during the early 1990s. He has a wife, Ginger (Melanie Lynskey; TV's "Two and a Half Men"), a son, and balances a successful personal and business life. The FBI becomes involved with ADM and Whitacre due to a relatively minor issue, when Whitacre spills the beans about one of the company's illegal practices. Apparently ADM is involved in price-fixing a market which affects the price of several consumer products. Whitacre works with Agents Shepard (Scott Bakula; TV's "Star Trek: Enterprise") and Herndon (Joel McHale; assorted TV appearances) to gather evidence against the company. This involves digging for corporate documents and wearing a wire during business meetings over the course of several years. The problems which arise later in the government's case is the reason why Whitacre is doing this and whether his version of the truth is the whole truth.

Damon is so darn believable as Whitacre, from the way he hunches his shoulders to his flustered way of speaking. The viewer's conception of the character starts one way but slowly changes the more you learn about him. This minor transformation of Whitacre and his ultimate reluctance to accept either blame or criticism makes him an ultimately tragic figure. The director finds humor in a movie which could have been played completely straight. An extra-dimension is added to the film which may not have existed without Soderbergh's adept vision.

The supporting cast members are not particularly well-known but Soderbergh uses them as a wonderful backdrop to establish Damon's character. Bakula's role as the hard-working, sympathetic FBI agent could be overlooked because of Damon's flashier performance. Bakula and Lynskey help the viewer to connect to Whitacre in a way that couldn't happen without their believable relationships. The absurdity near the end of the picture probably stretches a bit too long but this is a very minor criticism of an otherwise remarkable picture. Dram-edys are not for everyone but fans of the popular show "The Office" or last year's "Burn After Reading" will likely "get" the reality-based humor. While the picture may not be quite good enough to receive acclaim on its own merit, Damon's performance and Soderbergh's direction are worthy of critical acclaim.

Rated R for language.