"The Informant!" - American Idiot

That exclamation point says it all. This movie is not really about the most important corporate whistle-blower in the history of FBI investigations. It's about how that whistle-blower sees himself as the most important corporate whistle-blower in the history of FBI investigations ... and then some. He likes to joke that he's Secret Agent Double-O-14 because he's twice as smart as Agent 007 but he's only half-joking. He truly has self-delusions of grandeur. In truth, he's an American idiot. Make that American Idiot!

In the 1990's, Mark Whitacre was a successful biochemist/executive at the giant food additive corporation Archer Daniels Midland. For reasons still unclear, Whitacre blabs to the FBI that his company is involved in a global price-fixing scheme. He agrees to wear a wire for the next two and a half years (!) to help the FBI prove his claim. By the time he's done, he's scraped together enough evidence to convict a number of top echelon executives at ADM.

From this perspective, you have a dramatically harrowing tale of a lone individual taking on a giant corporation by living a nerve-wracking double life ... for years. In fact, Michael Mann made a very good movie a decade ago about a very similar situation. THE INSIDER was a psychological thriller about a biochemist who practically single-handedly battled the tobacco industry.

But director Steven Soderbergh doesn't want to make THE INSIDER II. He's much more interested in making, in effect, THE INSIDER! Soderbergh chooses to accentuate the comic rather than the dramatic or the tragic aspects of his story. And unlike Mann's tobacco chemist, ADM's biochemist provides a jaw-dropping amount of comic potential.

Like a 20th century Madame Bovary, Mark Whitacre has a rich fantasy life fueled by cheap fiction. He's constantly comparing his life to bestseller novels by Michael Crichton and John Grisham. And like Flaubert's heroine, he ultimately has trouble separating life and fantasy. He's convinced he's the hero in the novel that is his life, and that life is bound to be heroic. For instance, he persists in believing that once he brings down ADM, he would of course be named its new president. He refuses to listen when the Justice Department tries to explain to him that's not a likely scenario. He's apparently so dense, even his wife can't get him to face facts on this point. "Are you an idiot?" she finally has to ask him. Even that doesn't slow down his fantasy train.

He may be an idiot of sorts but he has an impeccable resume. With multiple degrees and a PhD., Whitacre is a highly paid scientist and corporate executive who's lived abroad in lots of places and is fluent in many languages. But those brains of his do him no good in the spy game. He conspicuously narrates his comings and goings into his hidden "wire," stares right into the lamp which is hiding the FBI tap, and starts fiddling with a malfunctioning spy recorder right in the middle of a clandestine meeting he's supposed to be secretly taping. He also can't seem to keep a secret, despite endless warnings and admonishments from his lawyers and the FBI. His antics turn his handlers into nervous wrecks as he continually puts at risk the entire investigation.

All these irritants pale in comparison to some other rather damning secrets that are eventually revealed about Whitacre, none of which I will reveal here. But rest assured Soderbergh mines them for all their comic potential. And Matt Damon seems to revel in the opportunity to play the antithesis of his Jason Bourne character. Paunchy, toupee'd, and sporting a ridiculous moustache, Damon here is a middle-aged doofus who only thinks he's Jason Bourne. And therein lies the humor.

Mark Whitacre is something of a cousin to William H. Macy's Jerry Lundegaard in FARGO, a bumbling incompetent with criminal intent. The difference is that FARGO'S universe is much darker than THE INFORMANT!'s. Unlike the Coen Brothers, Soderbergh chooses to keep it light and airy throughout. This makes for a breezy and entertaining watch, a la his OCEAN'S 11,12, and 13, but I think a little more grit and gravity would have given this already good movie a shot at greatness. Be that as it may, it's still a remarkably sly telling ... of a tale about an idiot, perhaps, but certainly not told by one.

In the end, Whitacre's story is so fantastic that you realize his own dimwitted fantasies about his life can't hold a candle to the remarkable life he actually lived. And that's worth an exclamation point all its own.