The Informant!

The true story of FBI informant Mark Whitacre is probably not as relevant as it would have been in the mid-to-late ‘90s when corporate crime was rampant. But it is a very interesting and outrageous story — one that director Steven Soderbergh (Che), working with Matt Damon for the fifth time, and writer Scott Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) very wisely tell as a brilliant comedy.

The Informant! follows Whitacre (a slightly heavier Matt Damon, The Bourne Ultimatum), a highly paid executive at an agricultural company called Archer Daniels Midland, as he decides to tell FBI Special Agents Brian Shepard (veteran TV actor Scott Bakula, Chuck) and Bob Herndon (Joel McHale, Community) about his company’s involvement in illegal price-fixing.

After looking into the case, the FBI agents convince Whitacre to wear a wire so he can give them enough evidence to take down the company. But Whitacre’s intentions aren’t as simple as the agents think. He has delusions of grandeur and seemingly aspires to be both a smooth secret agent (0014, because he is “twice as smart as 007”) and the new visionary leader of the company he is working to ruin.

As the FBI and Whitacre inch closer to their goal, it becomes very apparent the “white hat” protagonist isn’t telling the whole truth about his own part in ADM’s illegal practices. A snowball of hidden agendas, blatant lies and exaggerations ensue.

Throughout all the outrageous plot developments and twists, Whitacre narrates the story with a curious musing. He continually talks about things which are scarcely related to the unfolding events. Even as he is chest-deep in allegations of money laundering, kickbacks and millions of dollars in fraud, his only rambling thoughts are of the hunting rituals of polar bears. Or how he thinks his hands are his greatest asset in a meeting. Or why he thinks the metric system failed in the United States.

For this reason, he is a completely unreliable narrator and keeps the audience from ever seeing the whole truth. His thoughts are not only extremely funny, but this style of narrating gives The Informant! an element of surprise that is necessary for any good comedy. The voice-over is like a comedic magic act — it distracts the viewer with Whitacre’s hilarious musing, while all the real fun brews hidden in plain view.

The effect is only intensified by Damon’s brilliant performance. He uses a quiet and curious tone, mixed with exaggerated outbursts to give the main character a truly unique persona. He makes Whitacre believably unbelievable.

This is perfectly complemented by the expansive supporting cast. From Tony Hale’s (of The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard and Arrested Development fame) performance as Whitacre’s overly passionate lawyer to Scott Bakula’s straight-faced portrayal of Agent Shepard, everyone involved makes the movie seem effortless.

This feeling is also a by-product of the movie’s perfect pacing, brought upon by a good screenplay and careful directing. No scene or joke is drawn out for too long — a very common mistake in comedies — and at the end of the movie it is surprising how much has happened. But at the same time, Soderbergh draws enough fun from trivial things (like a scene of Whitacre narrating an FBI tape) to keep the laughs rolling.

The most interesting thing about The Informant! is the fact that it is a comedy. The story of Whitacre is actually a pretty serious affair and could easily be told as a drama. The filmmakers realized this but still decided to tell the story as it is, all while drawing out the irony and insanity it contained.

For this reason, The Informant! is unlike many comedies out there today. It never stretches for laughs. It is simply an interesting and well-told story — one that just happens to be hilarious.

4.5/5 Stars

IGOR

Pixar, the king of computer-animated features, decided adorable robots and superhero families appeal to children. And they were right. But the Weinstein Company took a different direction for Igor and thought children would respond well to mad science and jokes about murder.

Jumping from American Dad! to the silver screen, writer Chris McKenna peppers the film with morbid bits about brainwashing and blind orphans. It's a valiant effort with an ambitious concept, but tonally, Igor just implodes.

In the nightmarish comedy directed by Tony Leondis (Lilo and Stitch 2), John Cusack (War, Inc.) voices Igor. The hunchbacked, downtrodden lab assistant, despite coming from a race of servants, aspires to be the best evil scientist in the twisted land of Malaria. After his master is blown up in an experiment, Igor decides to take his chance and compete in the annual Evil Science Fair. He goes in pretty optimistically with an invention only God can compete with: life.

However, he soon realizes his plan for an intelligent and deadly monster has gone awry. Instead, he ends up with a giant, gentle-hearted Betty Boop look-alike.

Igor enlists the help of his two friends, a cynical rodent named Scamper (Steve Buscemi, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) and an encased brain (Sean Hayes, Will & Grace) that is (ironically) very stupid. Meanwhile, the evil and scheming Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) attempts to steal Igor's monster, thinking it is the destructive invention Igor intended.

Taking a page from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, the film's production design is scattered with stitched faces and ghoulish characters. In Malaria, the sun doesn't shine, and everyone is encouraged to be evil. Kudos to the filmmakers for choosing a setting not littered with wide-eyed animals and the normal, pandering kiddie fare.

But the film's creativity extends only about as far as its premise, and falls short in its reliance on cliché characters. The movie's protagonist is especially typical - as an underdog with a can-do attitude, self-deprecating to a fault.

And while the circumstantial comedy is certainly inventive, it really isn't very funny. Igor seems hesitant to decide whether it's a smart, dark satire or another silly ride. Punchy one-liners and ironic situations - with Buscemi's character gerring the especialy clever lines -but never go belly-deep. Buscemi's character gets the especially clever lines. More times than not, though, laughing cues would have been helpful.

While most animated films contain humor that appeals simulataneously to adults and kids, Igor swings back and forth. Jokes about severed arms and James Lipton references sit side by side with typical physical and bathroom humor. With a little more consistency, Igor could have been a far more enjoyable rift on the Frankenstein legacy.

Although the characters aren't terribly engaging, Igor is very well cast. Cusack is a good fit for an underdog protagonist, and although it may be a terrible thing to say, Buscemi is a perfect choice for a sarcastic, jittery, bug-eyed rodent. Even contained in studio sound booths, the chemistry shines through between the two seasoned actors. Their comedic flare is dimmed only by the dour setting.

The movie's overall concept is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. Igor's oddities and surprises are able to keep its audience interested. But in attempting to captivate both adults and kids, Igor fails to keep either fully enthralled. Too dark and sinister for youngsters and not intelligent enough for adults, the film never gets a true sense for who it wants to please most. Despite a strong cast and ample sarcasm, Igor slips into mediocrity - a promising invention gone wrong.

It's (almost) alive.

2.5/5 Stars

Wall-E (B+)

A waste allocation robot's typical routine would read as such: Clean up, compact, and organize trash. Make sure to keep all fascinating objects and always look out for the cockroach. Never forget your lunchbox – you might need it for storage. When the afternoon is over, return the day's catch back to home base, sunbathe, and watch old musicals. Sporks are complicated.

Wall-E is Pixar studio's 9th straight blockbuster following the success of Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Montser's Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille. It is also their first movie that works well as a science fiction film. The story focuses on an eccentric and curious robot called Wall-E (stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth) who is left to clean up Earth's massive piles of trash after the humans leave on a luxurious space cruise. Wall-E and a single cockroach are the only beings inhabiting the planet when a sleek new robot named Eve (stands for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) arrives looking for plant life. The two robots hit it off in their own way and are soon caught in a quirky and funny space adventure involving a fast food obsessed human race, defective robots, fire extinguishers, and a plant in a shoe.

As you can imagine from this summary, the story advances pretty sporadically. The plot's driving force is a series of random mishaps and occurrences that involve a character with only a vague goal of saving his damsel in distress. While inefficiency would kill most movies, it only seems to give Wall-E more charm. It matches the robot's spontaneous personality.

Like most animated films these days, Wall-E has a story line that appeals to both adults and kids. While kids enjoy talking robots and space odysseys, adults can be satisfied with interesting themes and intelligent situational comedy. But everyone loves that little robot. He is an infectious character with a delightful curiosity. This success is mainly due to Pixar's meticulous attention to detail. From Wall-E's complicated physical design full of mechanical eyebrow raises and fidgeting pronged fingers to his ridiculous mannerisms and habits – every bustling, tinkering part of him is brimming with personality. This is especially impressive considering the fact that he engages in very little dialogue. In fact both Wall-E and Eve are limited to mimicking, pointing, and a few words here and there. Neither of them even speaks a full sentence along the course of the movie, but it's surprisingly natural.

The movie does seem to drag at times but it's not the lack of dialogue that makes it seem slow. It's the lack of characters. Wall-E and Eve are the only major characters and their story lines are not busy enough to move the plotline at a good pace. This would have been a disastrous side effect for a 2-hour movie, but is only a minor setback for Wall-E, which clocks in at about 97 minutes. Despite this, Wall-E is an interesting science fiction film, a witty and disturbing satire on consumerism, and a cute animated love story all orbiting the curious whims of an adorable character. B+