He can expose bad all by himself.
Going Rate: Not more than matinee price, even if you like director Stephen Soderbergh's films.
Starring: Matt Damon
Rated: R
Red Flags: Language
It's puzzling to see how a man like Mark Whitacre made it as an executive at agricultural powerhouse ADM when he talks like the annoying guy two desks down from you. Boy, does he talk -- about anything: about corn, chemistry, a Renaissance fair, indoor pools, and polar bears in spurts of voice-over that more or less connect to the pictures but chiefly serve to remind you that his brain is as hyperactive as his mouth. Still, during the early '90's, this guy had just enough focus to take down his bosses in a price-fixing investigation by wearing a wire for the FBI. I must've missed the story during my formulative years in the news business.
Maybe it's because Whitacre, as portrayed by Damon, isn't a cut-and-dried folk hero. He seems to perceive right and wrong in terms of what's less burdensome to his mind, which we later find out is bipolar, although a lot of you will probably deduce that in the first five minutes. If only the FBI could've figured that out from the get-go. Whitacre leads agents down a twisted road of corporate intrigue while getting caught up in corruption himself. It has to be frustrating not knowing if your cooperating witness is taking out the garbage or on the take, and that's where the movie obtains a lot of its dynamics and satire.
Otherwise, it's a dry movie about a dry subject with a principal character unconducive to any emotional investment, despite the best efforts of director Stephen Soderbergh (Oceans 11) and a cheeky score from composer Marvin Hamlisch. It has several good plot twists, but they lack intensity and surprise given the cloud that is Whitacre: quirky and a bit zany but not really likable. I didn't root for him as much as wonder how he made it through without ending up in a straitjacket. A comic story about a man who takes down massive corporate corruption shouldn't be a hard sell in post-Madoff America. This one just doesn't have the goods.
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