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Informers, The
EMAILPRINTSenator Entertainment
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Bret Easton Ellis
Nicholas Jarecki
Directed by: Gregor Jordan
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 24, 2009
DVD: August 25, 2009
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: USA | Germany
Summary
RATING: R for strong sexual content, nudity, drug use, pervasive language and some disturbing images
Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Amber Heard, Rhys Ifans, Brad Renfro, and Jon Foster
In such works as "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho," Brett Easton Ellis dissects contemporary American society, a culture in which too much is never enough. Now, adapting his own acclaimed novel for the screen, he returns to the Los Angeles of the early 1980's with a multi-strand narrative that deftly balances a vast array of characters who represent both the top of the heap (a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, an aging newscaster) and the bottom (a voyeuristic doorman, an amoral ex-con). Connecting all his intertwining strands are the quintessential Ellis protagonists—a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs—and one another—with abandon, never realizing that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano. (Senator Entertainment)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Has an air of detachment and sadness, enhanced by the movie's being set a full quarter century ago.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
If The Informers doesn't sound to you like a pleasant time at the movies, you are right. To repeat: dread, despair and doom. It is often however repulsively fascinating and has been directed by Gregor Jordan as a soap opera from hell, with good sets and costumes.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Though The Informers is by no means great--nor wholly true to the vision of Ellis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Jarecki--moments sprinkled throughout the film capture Ellis' particular mix of flip yuppie satire and lived-in paranoia better than any big-screen version of his work to date.
Read Full Review >Variety Rob Nelson
The film is banal by obvious intent. The only question, as with other Ellis adaptations including "American Psycho," is whether auds will appreciate the aggressively shallow depiction of an aggressively shallow milieu, or mistake the pic's implicit critique for the crime itself.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
This is one of those "Crash"-style pictures with interwoven narrative strands. The problem here is that most of the strands wind up little more than loose ends.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Another tale of Tinseltown drugs, sex and excess - has transferred itself to the screen with mind-boggling, laugh-inciting horribleness.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Informers is nihilism for nihilism's sake; a bleak and borderline-unwatchable collage of misanthropes, self-absorbed a**holes, and pathetic weaklings as they struggle to move forward during the early 1980s in Los Angeles.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Roger Moore
It's a terrible muddle unless you take it as a satire on the Age of Ellis, the Jacqueline Susann for that Flock of Seagulls era. That way, the unintentional laughs seem almost ironic.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
You come away with only the memory of Christie, the film's perfect California blonde, lying insensate on the beach in the final ravages of AIDS - a potent and frightening image the rest of The Informers can't live up to.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Shocking is the fact that three highly regarded actors -- Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke and Billy Bob Thornton -- chose to star in this dreadful film.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
This one's a certifiable soul-sucker, dining out on its characters' venalities while wagging a finger at the horror, the horror.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Spoiler alert: It can leave you feeling kind of empty and sad! It's pretty, icky and boring all at once, and feels like nothing so much as an unusually depressing Ban du Soleil commercial.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Perry Seibert
So, in essence, The Informers fails precisely because we never believe these lost souls were ever human enough to have had a soul to lose in the first place.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Ellis' stamp is immediately apparent, from the absurdly vapid characters to the undercurrent of barely repressed anger.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Nearly every time Mr. Jordan, working from a script by Mr. Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki, tries for similar effects, he goes badly awry, so that you snicker when the movie is trying to be poignant and groan when it aims to make a joke.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
A tale of absolute self-absorption and unconscious revelation.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Robert Abele
Conjures up plenty of debauched tableaux with its photogenic, jaded showbiz denizens and hangers-on, but nary a reason for existing.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
A nihilistic, narcissistic, knuckleheaded move about nihilistic, narcissistic knuckleheads, The Informers might have been an interesting exercise in satire, if it only had a sense of humor. Which it doesn't. You'll need one, though, after forking over 10 bucks to see it.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The top-line talent, particularly Thornton and Rourke, do manage to hold our attention with idiosyncratic performances, but most of the others are a jumble of fair-haired, disaffected boys.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
J T gave it a3:
I have read all of Ellis' work and even I was turned off about the film version of a work of short stories. The simple fact is there is not much time for each character to become fully developed... and the fact that the "vampire" aspect was removed disappointed me greatly. Hopefully, the film version of 'Lunar Park' makes up for this awful flick.
Jay H gave it a5:
Okay, a bunch of shallow people in a very shallow movie, with shallow direction. Just what we need. The top notch production and cast can't save this one. The attempt to capture the 1980's fails miserably. Boring.
Scott M gave it a5:
As a fan of Ellis's works, Im not sure one can successfully translate the powerful detachment of his satire into a film. This is a prime example.
jonpaul d gave it an8:
I was really excited to see this as an Ellis fan. I peaked at the reviews before hand and was nervous it might let me down. Please ignore the critics, this film was very well done. If you enjoyed "American Psycho" you will most likely enjoy this.
Rodrigo G gave it an8:
While it's not an exact word-for-word adaptation, if you enjoyed reading The Informers, you should go see this movie. Jordan's work in weaving together this series of loosely related short stories into a feature film is impressive, and will likely acquire the same cult following as other adaptations of Ellis's novels.
