The Informant!

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 2.0

Stevie S. tries to 'punch up' the real-life story of Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), a biochemist for ADM who recognized that the company was guilty of price-fixing and volunteered to be a whistleblower for INGSOC ... only for INGSOC to eventually realize that Whitacre himself is a liar and embezzler (whoopsie!). Though the topic is timely - we live in a day and age where the Federal Government is all but powerless to stop white collar crime - the drama is muted and the humor is only so-so: try as he might, Damon can't do much with his golly-gee anti-hero aside from looking surprised when he springs on his handlers surprise after surprise (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale do a delightful job of appearing consistently stunned). Not sure what Soderbergh's going for with the filters and cinematography: several scenes look downright ugly with the overuse of the tints and flare. Fire "Peter Andrews."