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Informers, The

EMAILPRINTSenator Entertainment

Informers, The reviews
20
4.8 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 9 votes
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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)

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...

75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Has an air of detachment and sadness, enhanced by the movie's being set a full quarter century ago.

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63

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.

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58

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.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

One long wallow in sordidness.

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50

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.

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50

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.

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38

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Another tale of Tinseltown drugs, sex and excess - has transferred itself to the screen with mind-boggling, laugh-inciting horribleness.

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38

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.

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38

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.

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25

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Here's what is bad: this movie.

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25

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.

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25

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.

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25

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.

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25

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.

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25

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

An awful film about an awful time.

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25

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.

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20

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Ellis' stamp is immediately apparent, from the absurdly vapid characters to the undercurrent of barely repressed anger.

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20

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.

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20

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A tale of absolute self-absorption and unconscious revelation.

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10

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.

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10

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.

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0

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

One of the worst movies of this or any year.

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0

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.

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0

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Repulsive 80s flashback.

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0

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Tedious and tawdry.

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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.

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