When we first heard that Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh were reteaming for The Informant, a true-life tale about a high-ranking executive turned whistleblower, we though we were in for a super-serious examination of business practices, ethics and morality, along the lines of The Insider.
Well, judging from the film’s **first trailer, which went up on Apple **today, we were wrong. Way wrong.
For The Informant – or sorry, The Informant! - is quite clearly a comedy (as suggested by the addition of the exclamation mark), with a moustachioed and frighteningly bequiffed Damon seemingly on fine form as the hapless Mark Whitacre, a businessman so excited about becoming an FBI informant that he narrates his every action for the benefits of the wiretappers, and checks his recording equipment in the middle of meetings.
There’s more to Whitacre’s story than that, but we won’t spoil it. But this is clearly Soderbergh’s way of relaxing after the dourfest that was Che – and the trailer reflects that, with bouncy title cards, while Ride Of The Valkyries accompanies action (guys in offices walking and talking, in that by-now familiar stripped-down Soderbergh visual style) that’s as far removed from Apocalypse Now’s helicopter attack than you can get. And it’s got Scott Bakula too, as a Fed exasperated by Whitacre’s antics.
But this is clearly Damon’s show, and on this evidence he’s going to surprise a lot of people with his comedy chops. Whether Oscar takes notice, we’ll have to wait to see, but for his commitment to that hairdo alone, Damon deserves some kind of medal.
Click here to check out the trailer for **The Informant! **over at Apple.